


This Time We're Not Pretending

by JodiMarie2910



Category: Hana Yori Dango | Boys Over Flowers (Anime & Manga), Hana Yori Dango | Boys Over Flowers (TV), 꽃보다 남자 | Boys Over Flowers
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Humor, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Idiots in Love, Love, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Romance, Soeulmates, Soulmates, True Love, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:48:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 35,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23883271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JodiMarie2910/pseuds/JodiMarie2910
Summary: Series of (short) one-shots and drabbles, mostly unrelated, about our lovely SoEul couple. Sporadic updates. Fluff/Humor/I Couldn't Fit This Into A Story So I Put It Here :P So Yi Jeong/Chu Ga EulWork In Progress...No Particular Chapter Count (just as they pop into my brain!)
Relationships: Chu Ga Eul & So Yi Jung, Chu Ga Eul/So Yi Jung
Comments: 25
Kudos: 76





	1. Chapter 1

"I want a kiss."

"Okay, what type of kiss do you want?"

"What do you mean, Sunbae? A kiss, you know…We kiss all the time!" Ga Eul threw up her hands at his teasing expression. They were sitting on Ga Eul's bed playing a card game where the loser of each round had to grant one request for the winner.

"I know, but you need to be more specific. I wouldn't want you to be disappointed. Where do you want this kiss?" His eyes roamed over her face. "Your forehead? Your cheek? Your lips? Your neck? Perhaps…somewhere…"

Ga Eul slapped him on the arm.

"What are you looking at? Just a regular kiss…on the lips."

Crossing her arms, she sat back and glared at him, and he laughed.

"Close your eyes, Ga Eul-yang."

Pursing her lips together, she closed her eyes, and a few seconds later, she felt his lips barely touch hers and pull back. When she opened her eyes, Yi Jeong had already sat back in his place, gathering up the cards.

"It's your turn to deal again," he said, glancing up at her. "You look disappointed. I told you to be more specific."

He began shuffling the cards, but Ga Eul snatched the deck from him.

She sighed.

"Ottoke? That was the worst kiss I ever had." She dealt the cards lazily, practically throwing Yi Jeong's at him. "I don't even know if we should call that a kiss, really. It seems shameful to. Is that how you've always kissed girls, Sun—"

His lips met hers again, but this time he gave her a slow french kiss and nibbled on her bottom lip.

"Is that what you wanted?"

Ga Eul nodded, trying to calm her breathing, and he kissed her forehead before moving away from her.

"Good. You talk too much."

"You tease me too much," Ga Eul muttered as she finished dealing the cards. "It stresses me out." She shoved his pile over to him.

"If I win this round, I'm going to request you not to tease me ever again."

"And if I win this round, you have to kiss me however I want."

She smiled at him, a determined glint in her eyes.

"You, Sunbae, are not going to win this round."

Ga Eul, in fact, won the next three rounds, though she did not ask for him not to tease her. Instead, she asked him to sing the chorus of "Nobody"; then she painted his fingernails a glittery lavender shade just to see the horrified expression on his face; the last time she asked him to make her tea since she still had some of the tea leaves he'd given her in Sweden, so he made enough for the two of them. Then they settled in for another round, which he did win.

He stared down at the cards for a good while, his expression suddenly serious, until she finally asked him again what he wanted.

"Just don't make it too expensive," she playfully reminded him. "I'm on a budget. I can only spend to the limit on this card." Grabbing Yi Jeong's own black card out of the wallet on her nightstand, she dangled it in front of his face and grinned.

Putting her arm down, she repeated, "What?" as he lifted his head.

"What I want...would you really give it to me if I asked?" The longing in his eyes made her self-conscious.

"I think I know what it is," she said softly. "And I do want to do that with you, but…just not…I mean, I'm not…I just don't think I'm—"

"It's okay. Take your time."

Ga Eul nodded.

"I know what we can do!" she burst out, reaching over his shoulder to the notepad she kept on her nightstand. Scribbling on one of the pages, she handed it to him. "I wrote you an IOU," she said. "See? I'm not denying your request. I'm just…postponing it."

Yi Jeong laughed.

"This is the strangest IOU I've ever gotten in my life. Can I…collect on this anytime I want?" He raised an eyebrow, and Ga Eul's eyes went wide.

Yi Jeong reached over and slapped her forehead with a card.

"Don't look so frightened. We'll save this for a special occasion." He folded the paper neatly and stuffed it into his pants pocket. "You pick the time and place. I'll be there." He winked at her and started shuffling the cards. "Another round?"

While his eyes were on the cards, she studied his handsome profile in the soft light of her bedside lamp. If it were possible, she had just fallen more in love with him when he said that.

"Aniyo," she heard herself saying. "I'm a bit tired now. Can we go to sleep?"

He nodded, and his hair fell over to the side and partly covered his face as he shuffled the cards and folded them back into the box.

She loved how he smiled at her then and turned off the lamp on his side of the bed and, lying down, pulled her close to him. She loved the smell of his cologne as she buried her face into his t-shirt. She loved the way he said her name when he said, "Good night, Ga Eul-yang," and kissed the top of her head. She loved how he whispered a moment later that he would kill her if she let him forget to take off the nail polish before he left the next morning. She loved the feeling of his fingers gently stroking her back and the sound of his heartbeat as it lulled her to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Watch it! What type of driving is that?!"

"You taught me how to drive, Sunbae."

"I also bought you this car, and I'd really not like to buy another one...Though I could, of course."

"You're just sore because I insist on paying you back. Calm down, Sunbae. I'm not this stressed out when you drive, and you drive a lot faster than me."

"Is it just me," Woo Bin chimes in from the backseat, "or is this Jan Di and Jun Pyo 2.0?"

"No!" Yi Jeong and Ga Eul answer simultaneously.

Woo Bin laughs.

"I swear, you two fight almost as much as they did."

"We do not!"

"We're just pretending to fight, aren't we, Sunbae?" Ga Eul throws him a cheeky grin.

"You're going to miss your turn," Yi Jeong mutters.

Glaring at him, Ga Eul steps on the gas, cutting off the car in front of her to get over in time.

"Sorry," she mumbles—to the other car, not to Yi Jeong.

"Yeah, I can tell she learned to drive from you, bro."

"Shut up," the two of them reply.

"What I don't understand is why you never use your mirrors," Yi Jeong remarks.

"I am using my mirrors."

"You don't use _that_ mirror. You never look at it."

"I don't have to look at that one! I just look...Oh, forget it."

"And they told me you passed your driving test with flying colors." Yi Jeong scoffs.

"Well...that might not have been entirely accurate."

"What?"

"I may have almost...or slightly...or actually...failed."

"But you got your license!"

Ga Eul gives him a quick, coy glance.

"You don't think they would actually _fail_ So Yi Jeong's girlfriend, do you?"

They pull up to a traffic light, and she bats her eyelashes.

"No way," Woo Bin comments. "And just when you think you have someone figured out."

Yi Jeong stares at her, open-mouthed.

"Are you honestly telling me you resorted to name-dropping to get your license?"

Ga Eul shrugs.

"I learned it from you, Sunbae...Oh, the light's green." She turns down the street that houses their destination, a French restaurant that has been rented out especially for Jan Di's birthday.

"Yeah, but you...You don't...Wait. You did _that_ , but you turned down that offer at Shinhwa's preschool because of Jun Pyo?"

Ga Eul glances over at him, her expression unreadable. Her eyes flick up to Woo Bin, who knows how she actually got her license because he took her to take the test when Yi Jeong couldn't clear something on his schedule.

After a moment, she smiles.

"Why, Sunbae, you look genuinely afraid that deep down I'm that sort of person."

Yi Jeong stares ahead, a hint of a scowl forming at the corners of his mouth.

She laughs at his thinly veiled annoyance.

"No, I didn't," she says at last, pulling into the venue. "I didn't want to tell you I failed, so I just took it again. I passed the second time."

"So you lied to me."

"I didn't lie to you. I passed. And I didn't tell them anything about you. I just didn't tell you how many times I took the exam."

"Did you know about this?" Yi Jeong turns to Woo Bin, who is hiding a chuckle.

He raises his hands.

"I'm not getting into this."

"You're a witness."

"It's not a crime to take your driver's test twice, Sunbae," Ga Eul says.

"Or three times," Woo Bin adds.

"Yah." Yi Jeong gives him a warning stare. "I thought you were staying out of it."

"I'm stating a fact of law."

Ga Eul puts the car in park, pulls off her seatbelt, and glances between them.

"What do you mean?"

Leaning forward, Woo Bin gestures for her to come closer.

"Woo Bin," Yi Jeong mutters.

"I only mean that Yi Jeong failed his driver's exam twice."

"What?" Ga Eul's eyes go wide.

Yi Jeong unbuckles his own seatbelt and opens the door.

"Let's get out. We're late."

Letting the door slam behind him, he doesn't look back as the two others get out of the car.

"Hey, Sunbae, come back. Sunbae!" Ga Eul runs up beside him. "Don't tell me that's why you've been so annoyed at my driving for the past month. You were just upset I got my license on my first try, weren't you? Huh? Sunbae?" She pokes at his arm.

"Hey! Cut it out." He pulls his arm back but opens the door for her nonetheless. She doesn't enter but grins up at him instead.

His mask of indifference back in place, he answers coolly, "Yah, why don't you go back there with that other traitor?"

He nods toward Woo Bin, who is still halfway across the parking lot.

"Oh...Is it okay if I sit next to him at lunch then?"

His brow scrunches then, and his eyes narrow in on her.

"Do you wanna die?"

"No...but obviously you do since you let me drive."


	3. Chapter 3

He's the last person she expects to see standing at the door to her apartment when she opens it, but there he is—breathless, like he ran all the way from his house to hers, and beautiful, as always.

"Yi Jeong?" she addresses him, biting her lip when she realizes she didn't add 'Sunbae.' She'd gotten into the habit of calling him by his first name only when they'd dated, secretly, while he was still in college.

But they're not supposed to see each other now. They had an agreement. Once his marriage meetings started, they would end their relationship. As it was, he couldn't bear to see her go through what Jan Di had, and she would never agree to be his 'other woman,' not that he had asked her to, so they had come to an impasse.

They broke up a little less than a month ago, yet here he is, staring at her with glossy, red-rimmed eyes.

He must have been crying on his way over.

Did something happen to one of their friends?

Did something happen to his mother?

Ga Eul's mind runs through a blur of tragic scenarios.

They were together for two years, and she's never seen him cry, except for that one time when she showed him the billboard, but whatever is upsetting him now seems to have broken him.

He hasn't answered her.

"Yi Jeong," she tries again, lightly touching his arm. She runs her fingers over the seam of his suit jacket and tugs on his cuff.

Another old habit.

"What happened?" she asks, half-terrified to hear the answer. "Is everyone okay? Are you...Are you hurt?" She examines him with her eyes, but despite his grievous expression he looks perfectly intact.

"I used to think Jun Pyo was so stupid," he finally says, his voice cracking over the words. "Risking his entire future for a girl." He closes the gap between them and grabs her shoulders, forcing her to look up at his blood-shot eyes and mussed-up hair. "But now I get it, and it's fucking terrifying."

"What's terrifying?" she whispers, nearly falling into him.

He looks her up and down, almost like he's seeing her for the first time.

"Meeting the one person you'd give up everything for."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to read the E rated version of this one shot, it's Chapter 15 of my one-shot collection Good Girl. The title of the chapter is "Inevitable."


	4. Chapter 4

"And thank you so much for this pink...lace...swimsuit..." Jan Di trailed off as she pulled the last of the red tissue paper apart from the box in her lap and gaped down at the pale pink one-piece _thing_. Slamming the gift box lid down, she chuckled nervously as she glanced around at the circle of friends seated on the floor of Jun Pyo's living room, then hissed, "Jun Pyo!" She spun her neck around to glare at the offending party.

"I had nothing to do with that! Yah"—it was his turn to glare—"who gave my future wife underwear?"

"I thought the wrapping paper said"—Jan Di twisted the crumpled gold paper around—"Yi Jeong?" Jan Di flashed a confused look at the potter, who looked unnerved for once.

"Ah," he started, then paused, then seemed to collect himself."Sorry, that was a mistake. I...I must have put the wrong name on that box."

"You're giving a girl a Christmas present?" Woo Bin asked incredulously. "Yo bro, that must be serious. Who is she? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Jun Pyo spoke up, looking quite put out.

"I didn't know you wrapped your own gifts," Ji Hoo commented with a smirk.

"It's lingerie," Yi Jeong scoffed. "What's there to tell?" He ignored Ji Hoo's comment and, standing up, took the box back from Jan Di. "Sorry again. I'll have your present sent over to your apartment tomorrow."

Plopping back down, he smiled charmingly and asked whose turn it was to open a gift next.

"Wait, wait, wait," Jun Pyo interrupted, "you're really not going to tell us who it is? I think we have a right to know, seeing as how we just saw their gift."

"That doesn't make any sense at all," Jan Di chided.

"Jun Pyo, this is hardly the first time I've bought a woman lingerie."

"You always hand-wrap and hand-deliver those?" Ji Hoo asked.

"Ji Hoo's right," Woo Bin said. "You don't buy a woman anything unless she's standing in the store with you. And you certainly don't give out Christmas gifts."

"Well, maybe I've changed my habits." Yi Jeong maintained a look of reserved disinterest. "I'm allowed to change those, aren't I?"

"Or maybe you've changed your taste in women." Woo Bin grinned.

Yi Jeong sighed like he was bored with the whole discussion.

"Are you all done?"

"No. We're just getting started. You look nervous. Guys, doesn't he look nervous?" Woo Bin ribbed him. "You can't fool us. At least, you can't fool me. Now, come on, what's her name? Do I know her?"

"Do I know her?" Jun Pyo chimed in.

"Did she go to school with us?"

"How did you meet?"

"It's not that girl your aunt was trying to set you up with, is it?"

"How long has this been going on?"

"And you kept saying you were too busy to go clubbing with me."

"...be the first to know..."

"...without saying anything..."

"I know it's not..."

"...growing up..."

"It's mine." Over the cacophony of voices, a small voice piped up from beside Jan Di—Ga Eul, who had been sitting silently the whole time. Her cheeks couldn't have been a deeper shade of red if they were sunburned, and the room went dead quiet.

"No way!" Woo Bin burst out when no one else said anything. He glanced from Ga Eul to Yi Jeong and back to Ga Eul. "How long has this been going on?"

Ji Hoo smiled.

"No. No, that doesn't make sense," Jun Pyo announced, shaking his head. "You already opened your present from Yi Jeong." He pointed to the pink knit sweater Ga Eul had laid across her lap.

"I don't think he meant he meant for me to open that other one...here." Ga Eul squirmed uncomfortably. Avoiding everyone's stares, she glanced up at Yi Jeong, who looked like he was about to protest, and gave him an embarrassed smile.

"It's okay. They had to find out sooner or later."

Jan Di sputtered, open-mouthed, "B-but, h-how did you not tell me? Your oldest friend!"

"I know, I know. I just..." Ga Eul took a deep breath. "I didn't think you would react well. I mean...it's Yi Jeong Sunbae."

"Thanks, Ga Eul-yang," Yi Jeong deadpanned. "And I didn't tell anyone because Ga Eul wanted you to be the first to know." He nodded his head to Jan Di.

"But how long has this been going on?" Woo Bin repeated.

"Um...about three months." Yi Jeong's gaze traveled over to Ga Eul, and she nodded her head, confirming it.

"Three months," Woo Bin mumbled and nodded, tilting his head in thought.

"Three months?" Jan Di repeated. "Three months?! And he's buying you that?!"

Ga Eul grinned sheepishly and brought her pink sweater up to her face, trying to hide from Jan Di's overprotective stare.

"Ahhh...Jan Di-ahhh..."

"I don't who to throttle first, you or him." Jan Di reached over and throttled her best friend anyway.

"See? I knew you wouldn't react well." A shaken Ga Eul pulled Jan Di's hands off of her shoulders.

"Yah! What do you want with a present like that?" Jan Di turned so that she fully faced Ga Eul.

"You really want me to answer that"—Ga Eul glanced to the side—"here?"

"Yes!...I-I-I mean no!...I mean...well...you have some explaining to do." Twisting back around, Jan Di folded her arms. "Who's next?" she asked a bit too loudly, and Woo Bin chuckled.

Jun Pyo still looked dumbfounded while Ji Hoo took another sip of his drink, amusement twisting the corners of his mouth.

Suddenly Yi Jeong got up from where he had been sitting between Ji Hoo and Woo Bin and wedged himself into the small space between Jan Di and Ga Eul.

"This way," he explained to Jan Di, "you can keep an eye on me, and I can keep you from killing my girlfriend."

Jan Di's mouth opened in protest.

"K-kill—"

"I'll go next," he announced to the rest of the group.

Tearing off the red and green wrapping paper from his second to last gift of the night, he glanced at the wreathed label on the package.

_From Ji Hoo_ , it read.

Everyone stayed quiet as he picked at the tape holding the box together and pried open the lid, revealing a set of...coffee mugs.

"What the h—"

"Oh, that's actually cute, Ji Hoo Sunbae." Jan Di smiled and took one of the mugs out of the box before Yi Jeong could finish his thought. "They're His & Her mugs stuffed with...condoms?!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "If I asked you about women, you'd probably give me a syllabus of your personal favorites...But you can't tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy...And if I asked you about love, you'd probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone could level you with her eyes. Feeling like God put an angel on earth just for you...who could rescue you from the depths of hell."—Good Will Hunting

Yi Jeong couldn't say it before, not while the feeling was new and unfamiliar.

He was so used to being in charge of the moment; he thought if he couldn't be in charge of his fate in its entirety, maybe a moment would be enough.

But soon there were too many moments between him and Ga Eul, and more often than not he wasn't in control of them.

She was unplanned, the one person who could make him come undone, rid of all his certainty.

He's never known quite what to do with her.

Tonight is his birthday, his first birthday with her, and another party has been thrown at his home as is his custom. Close to midnight, he notices her drifting off against his shoulder and leads her upstairs, though she protests that she can stay awake a little longer.

He lets her into his bedroom, which had been locked to keep the other guests out, shows her to the bathroom, and hands her a bath towel for when she wants to shower and a blanket for when she wants to sleep.

She's still protesting when he closes the door on her, locks it again, and rejoins the party downstairs. He only intends to say good night to a few people and leave everyone else to their own devices, but Woo Bin ropes him into having another drink, then two, and when he finally makes his way back up to his bedroom, she has fallen asleep on one corner of his king-sized bed with the black fur throw covering the upper half of her body, still in her gold party dress.

He takes in the elegant room—the ornate furniture, the priceless wall decorations, his own designer coat hung on the back a chair. Suddenly, her presence is the only thing there that makes it feel like home, that makes him feel whole.

Most everything in his life has been picked for him since the day he was born, but not her. He's not sure how, but he's earned the right to touch her hand, to sit with her nestled half-asleep against his side, to witness her rage and her quiet, her delight and her tears. His most sacred memory is the pressure of her lips against his neck. He wants to kiss her just to feel her skin under his lips.

Grabbing a larger blanket, he carefully arranges it over her and sits on the bed, not wanting to wake her. Only now does he think about how exhausted she must be, having had classes in the morning and a shift at the porridge shop before he picked her up for the party tonight.

She looks so small curled up in his bed—on the edge of it, like she wouldn't dare to steal the middle—and he would think her harmless if he didn't know her, if she hadn't already broken all of his expectations of her and of himself.

She'd had her long black hair pinned up earlier, but now it's undone, cascading along her back and down the blanket, soft and beautiful. Her breaths come slow and even, the way she crept into his heart, smoother than a siren or a seductress.

He couldn't say it before.

Maybe it didn't seem real to him yet.

Or maybe he's just woken up.

He loves her.


	6. Chapter 6

"You have admirers." Ga Eul tilts her head toward the far end of the restaurant, to a table on the left side, where three schoolgirls—probably high school age—are seated.

"Ah, I see. Does that bother you?" Yi Jeong smirks.

"No." She sets his porridge down in front of him and continues lightly, "But they might be bothered since I'm the one making their food."

"Remind me not to make you angry. Should I be concerned about what's in this?" He lifts the spoon to his lips but hesitates before putting it in his mouth, eyeing the steam rising from it.

"I am a harmless country girl, Sunbae."

"I know. That's what scares me. You don't look like you would do anything. I'd never see it coming."

"I'm not going to kill you."

She adjusts her apron and reties the back.

"Wow. It's such a relief to hear that from my girlfriend," Yi Jeong comments.

"At least not here," she smiles cheekily and continues. "Too many witnesses. And what, have Master ruined for it? A famous person poisoned in his own porridge shop. Even if he didn't go down for murder, he'd be forced to close."

Yi Jeong raises his eyebrows.

"And you have given so much thought to this because?"

"I haven't, really. I'm just saying." She shrugs.

"I don't like that we're talking about my theoretical death here. In such concrete terms." He touches his fingers to the table for emphasis.

"Well, you were really annoying when I first met you." She crosses her arms. "Believe me, I spent plenty of time conjuring ways to wipe that stupid smirk off of your face."

"Including murder?"

"That...seemed like an extreme solution, but still, a plausible one," she says, all-knowingly, and taps her fingers on her arm.

"I think I've lost my appetite." He drops the spoon back in the bowl, porridge uneaten.

Taking the bowl back from him, she leans over and whispers, "That's probably for the best anyway." Winking at him, she walks off in the direction of the admiring schoolgirls, leaving him to stare at her backside as she walks away and her laughter as she takes the girls' orders and asks them about school.

It's a morbid, more-than-slightly-disturbing thought, but death by Ga Eul seems like a nice way to die.


	7. Chapter 7

"Well, this is awkward." Yi Jeong was the first to state the obvious, smirking at Ga Eul from where he leaned against the wall in Jan Di's small closet, which was thankfully, at the moment, sans clothes. It was different seeing him dressed casually in jeans, though of course he had to wear a vest over his shirt. Indeed, he looked slightly more down-to-earth, but still, not totally. Enough to tease but not enough to disguise who and what he was.

"Mmm, yeah," she replied, stuffing her hands in her jacket pockets. Ga Eul smiled—no, grimaced—from her position on the opposite wall and looked pointedly down at the chipped paint on the floor. Their shoes rested mere inches from each other, and she pursed her lips when she realized how scuffed and dirty her white sneakers were. His looked like they'd come from the department store that morning.

Typical.

Whose idea was it to play this stupid, childish game? What was it? Seven Minutes in _Hell_?

Oh, right. Jae Kyung's. Although she'd been terribly kind to both her and Jan Di, Ga Eul swore there was only so much more she could take of the opinionated heiress upending their lives. Normally, Ga Eul was very patient with people; it took a lot to get on her bad side. But Jae Kyung had simply gone too far, first with upsetting their plan to get Jan Di and Jun Pyo back together and now this!

Of course, there was no way she could have known the history between Yi Jeong and herself. No one knew that but the two of them, or so she suspected. But here they were, trapped in a closet together for another—she checked her watch—five minutes.

They should have stuck with Ga Eul's own idea to play Truth or Dare.

"You know she probably suggested this just so she could find a way to get Jun Pyo to kiss her," she whispered, finally glancing up and hoping the chatter of their friends outside would cover up their conversation. She couldn't stay silent the whole time; maybe if they started a friendly chat things would be more comfortable...or at least less uncomfortable.

"Or it could backfire on her," Yi Jeong replied quietly. "We could get Jan Di and Jun Pyo together." He raised his eyebrows, and she could have slapped herself.

Of course he was thinking about their friends, not her.

Not the fact that he'd been trapped in here _with her_.

Come to think of it, he didn't look uncomfortable in the slightest as he leaned his head back lazily and crossed one leg over the other.

Well, why would he be?

Gosh, she was such an idiot.

Moving off the wall herself, she replied, "Do you really think that would work? They're still so...tense around each other."

"Sometimes tension's good. When it explodes, you never know what could happen."

Ga Eul nodded and glanced around the bare closet again, not that there was much to look at, just an empty overhead shelf and the single unenclosed lightbulb hanging from the ceiling on a string.

"Besides the matter of, you know, small, enclosed spaces. They tend to force people closer together." He continued, and when she met his eyes, he was staring straight at her. "And then there's the matter of the time constraint."

She swallowed.

"What's so great about that?" she asked. "I thought the idea was to make them spend more time together."

"When time is limited, people feel pressure. They do things they might not otherwise do." He uncrossed his legs and stepped toward her, leaning in so close she could feel his breath. "I bet you they wouldn't last five minutes keeping their hands off of each other in here."

Lowering her eyes to his throat, she watched it bob up and down and tried to keep her breath steady as she answered, "Well, then, h-how do you think we should do it?"

"Do what?"

"G-get them in here...together."

"That's easy. It's your turn to draw the names next. Just pretend you drew the two of them."

Ga Eul nodded.

"You want to know what I think will happen?" he whispered, and she lifted her eyes to his again. They were gleaming, magnetic.

Oh, great.

Now she couldn't look away.

"I think," Yi Jeong continued, "that in here, away from everyone, they will be forced to confront the truth. And there will be no one and nothing to stop them."

Ga Eul nodded, her back thumping against the wall. Suddenly, she realized he'd been constantly moving closer and she'd been shifting back.

Alarmed at their proximity, at the fact that he had her literally boxed in, she looked down at her watch and stuttered, "U-um, Y-Yi Jeong, maybe we should—"

"I think"—he brought his hand to her chin and tilted it up—"they would have to do something like this." Suddenly he lowered his face and brushed his nose against her nose.

"Please don't," she whispered right when their lips were about to touch.

He stopped and backed away, just a bit, looking genuinely puzzled.

"Why not? I thought you said you liked me."

"I do like you."

_Very much_ , she wanted to add.

"But I don't want you to kiss me because of some stupid game."

His eyes flickered, the intensity in them making her feel exposed, embarrassingly so.

"Okay." He appeared to study her face. "Then can I kiss you because...I want to?"

_I want to._

Her stomach flipped. It wasn't exactly a confession, if she thought about it. She was sure Yi Jeong had _wanted_ to kiss—had kissed—plenty of girls before without the added constriction of being stuck in a closet with them.

But still, it meant he felt something for her. She didn't think he would kiss someone he wasn't at least attracted to.

Which meant maybe she had a chance after all.

Throwing caution to the wind, she whispered, "Okay."

"Okay."

'This must be a dream,' she thought, as he brought his lips down to hers a second time. His right arm snaked around her, and she felt his left hand cup her cheek as he slanted his mouth over hers and kissed her: a full, warm, lingering kiss. Tentatively, she brought her hands up to his sides and clung to the material of his white cotton shirt where it stopped above his jeans. He moved his lips slowly against hers, and after a moment he brushed his tongue against her lips. She opened her mouth just enough to let him slip inside and rub his tongue gently on her own. As she pressed her body into his warmth, he cradled her chin in his hand and continued kissing her softly. She curled her fingers into his belt. When she pulled away to breathe, he moved away from her mouth and began kissing her cheeks and her ears and her jaw. She always thought his touch would be hot and demanding, like the pent-up emotion that always boiled beneath the surface with him, but his caresses were gentle on her face and then trailing down her neck.

He'd said he wanted to kiss her; she thought he'd meant one kiss—on her lips, _maybe_ with tongue—and that would be it, but now his mouth had reached her throat, and her hair fell around them as he reached up and ripped her ponytail down.

He took his hand away from her chin and slipped it into her hair.

Someone rapped on the door, and, startled, she pushed against his chest.

He stumbled back, his face as flushed as hers felt.

"Time's up," Woo Bin's voice announced.

Yi Jeong pressed her to the wall again like he hadn't heard him, one arm still around her waist. His heartbeat thrummed against her chest, and she wondered if he could feel hers too.

Threading his fingers through her hair, he kissed her nose.

The way he looked at her...she wanted this moment to last forever but...

"He's going to open the door any minute now," Ga Eul whispered.

Another smirk graced Yi Jeong's face, and he traced her ear with his finger as he replied, "No, he's not. I locked it when we came in here."


	8. Chapter 8

"Please...one more...Please, Sunbae. Please."

Latching onto Yi Jeong's arm, Ga Eul tilts her face up to him in a hopeful expression.

Yi Jeong stares up at the clear noon sky, at the ferris wheel they've just disembarked. Over the past weeks and months, they've been catching up on her list of 'all the things I wanted to do with my boyfriend.' He supposes if he had a list of things he wanted to do with a girlfriend—a real girlfriend he had an actual, meaningful relationship with—some of the same things might have been on it. Normal, mundane things like going to the park, going to the movies, having dinners with friends, having study dates in the library...just things, things that they could do together.

Because what they were doing, ultimately, wasn't the point.

Being together was the point.

He sighs and rolls his shoulders dramatically. She's still tugging on his arm, insistent, and now she's batting her eyelids and smiling up at him like she knows he'll do whatever she wants.

Because he will. Who is he kidding? It's a habit that's getting worse as time goes on.

"You're a kid," he complains. "I'm dating a kid."

"Hey." Her small mouth turns down in a pout. "You agreed to this. Don't complain. Now. One more?"

"Let me ask you something. If you had a poor commoner boyfriend, would you be asking him to go again?"

"No." She shrugs. "But I'm not dating a _poor_ commoner. I'm dating you, and, as you say, this is pocket change to you," she answers knowingly.

"And yet, you won't let me buy you a car."

Ga Eul frowns, like that's a completely inappropriate comparison.

At least, that's what she's probably thinking. He knows her.

"But I like you giving me rides to school."

Well, okay, he wasn't expecting that response.

He can't help but smile.

"Awww...but you could be giving me rides to school." Enfolding her in his arms, he shakes her gently and bends his face over hers. "Where's the reciprocation?"

"Sunbae. You're getting off topic." She presses her faces into his coat and mumbles, "One more ride."

"Fine, fine."

"Yay!" Reaching up, she pats him on the head. "Good Sunbae."

"I'm not a puppy."

"Yes, you are. Good boyfriend." She pats him again.

"Aish, cut it out." He moves to swat her hand away, but she grabs his hand instead.

Giggling, she starts pulling him back toward the ferris wheel.

"Come on, Sunbae."

As she leads him along, he has a vague recollection of her dragging him all over an island. Maybe the truth of their whole relationship could be summed up by the image of him trailing after her, trying to be annoyed by not being in charge—because he is used to being in charge, always—and failing.

Well, he guesses he's always had a weakness for cute, innocent things.

So he's not annoyed, not really, not in any way that matters, when he takes the money out of his wallet to pay for another round and waits in line with the rest of the common folk because ' _waiting in line_ is part of the experience, Sunbae.'

Once they have been firmly ensconced in the small carriage that will take them high above Seoul, Ga Eul slides over close to the window so she can see out, grinning nonsensically.

"Hey. Aren't you going to sit next to me?" Yi Jeong gestures to the space between them. He's sitting by the opposite window.

Ga Eul looks down at the seat and then back at him and shrugs.

"Aren't you going to sit next to me?"

"You brought me on this. Don't you think you should at least keep me company over here?" It's a futile attempt to regain some control over the situation, and he knows it. Still, he likes to believe he's not as whipped as everyone else believes he is.

"But I want to see out of this side. I sat on the other side last time." She glances over at him again, then looks back out the window. "Besides, if you want to sit closer to me, you can slide over."

_He_ can slide over? What utter nonsense.

"Fine. Just stay in your corner then." He scoffs and crosses his legs. They're almost at the top.

No, they're at the top, and the ride is stopping, leaving their carriage at the highest point on the ride.

He'll never admit it, but he hates looking down on rides like this. Honestly, he'd probably feel better if he had Ga Eul between him and the window, if he could concentrate on holding her hand or something instead of staring at the bolts fastening the door shut and wondering how much pressure it would take for them to pop open and send him spiraling to an untimely death on the pavement below.

And now the carriage is shaking a bit like these damn carriages always do.

Anyway, his qualms about ferris wheels are for him to know and her to—

"Sunbae." A tug on his arm causes him to jerk out of this thoughts. He uncrosses his legs.

She's moved over to his side of her own volition, and his muscles relax a little.

"Don't you think we should kiss?"

"No. The thought of kissing you has never crossed my mind," he says, eyebrows raised even as his eyes drift down to the smudge of pink lipstick in one corner of her mouth. He resists the urge to correct it with his thumb.

"I don't mean it like that, silly. But since we're at the very top of the ride, it's good luck."

"You think kissing everywhere is good luck. Not that I'm complaining."

"Will you hurry up and kiss me before the ride starts moving again?" She looks quite desperate, and Yi Jeong can't help but laugh.

"Does it only work if I kiss you and not if you kiss me?"

"Seriously, Sunbae?"

"I'm just asking."

"Fine. Hold still."

"Do I need to close my eyes?" Yi Jeong closes his eyes anyway, holding back a chuckle as she presses her lips to his, right before the ride jerks back to life.

Opening his eyes after a few seconds, he watches her pull away, the sun crowning her face in light.

"I know you think I'm silly, but with you I need all the luck I can get." She moves back to her side and leans her head against the side of the carriage.

Crossing her arms, she stares out the window again.

Well, now she's already annoyed with him, so of course he has to move over until his legs touch hers.

"Hey, one more kiss. One more."

She purses her lips as the ride descends, ignoring him.

"One more, one more." Latching onto her left arm, he shakes it free of her other arm. "Hey, Ga Eul-yang, one more."

"Sunbae." She tries to pull her arm away, but he only reaches for her other arm as well, pinning her wrists to her lap while he inches his face closer to hers.

"One more."

Tugging free, she slaps his arm.

"Yah, cut it out! We're almost to the bottom!"

He only laughs and wraps his arm around her shoulders.

"One more...Please."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pre-BOF AU in which Ga Eul gets lost during a school field trip to the art museum. I always thought it would be fun to write a scene where they meet each other when they're younger.

It's all Ga Eul's fault, really.

Her teacher told everyone to link arms with a buddy as they walked through the children's wing of the huge art building, but Jan Di had to stay home sick today with the flu, so Ga Eul had contented herself to blend in with the crowd of other students and read the plaques underneath the exhibits as they moved along.

She'd simply read one for too long—perhaps she had gotten behind a case where the teacher couldn't see her—and when she looked around for her class they had vanished.

Her mother always tells her that daydreaming will get her into trouble, that she needs to pay attention to real life.

What's so great about real life?

She wants to be a princess and marry a handsome prince and live in a beautiful palace like the building she's walking through right now.

For now, she's alone.

She's taken a wrong turn somewhere, maybe multiple wrong turns. The paths she's taking, instead of leading her toward anything familiar, are only leading her deeper and deeper into the museum. She should probably stop and ask an adult for directions, but Ga Eul likes mazes.

Well, she likes solving mazes on paper. She's never been in an actual maze before, but she's determined to find her own way out of this one.

At an intersection of hallways, she stops and taps her finger against her chin and her foot against the marble floor, deciding which way to go next.

A boy's voice answers her thoughts.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be back here."

She swivels around to see him standing a few feet from her, dressed in a three-piece black suit like he just came from a funeral.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

The words are out before she can stop herself.

Her mom would slap her for being so rude.

But Ga Eul thinks it's a perfectly valid question. He can't be much older than her.

The question seems to catch him off guard, though, and he raises his eyebrows, then narrows them at her.

"Why are you in this part of the museum? Does your mom work here?"

"I lost my class."

The boy scoffs.

"You don't look like a teacher to me."

Ga Eul stamps her foot impatiently.

"Well, obviously, I'm not a teacher. I'm not even—"

"I own this museum," the boy cuts her off. He draws himself up like he might seem impressive, but his voice cracks over the last two words. In any case, the effect is lost on Ga Eul. She's known enough jerks at school to not take any of them seriously.

_Owns_ the museum? Sure.

She crosses her arms.

"How old are you?"

"How old are you?" he parrots back.

"Nine."

"I'm ten, but I'll be eleven next month." His mouth turns up in a smirk. "That means you have to call me 'Sunbae.'"

Ga Eul lifts her eyebrows.

She could say something really mean, something like...'I'll call you 'Sunbae' when you quit squeaking like a girl.'

Instead, she shrugs and turns her back to him.

Enough of this. She needs to find her class before her teacher freaks out and calls security...or her mom...or both.

Probably both.

"Hey. You want to see something cool?" he asks. "It'll only take a minute."

She faces him once more. He's smiling at her, his expression suspiciously harmless.

Ga Eul nods slowly. She doesn't trust him, but she's curious.

And he's kind of cute, in an over-the-top annoying way, but she shakes that thought off as he grabs her wrist and leads her down a series of corridors.

Finally, they reach the end of one long hallway, and he opens a door leading to a dimly lit stairwell. Pushing her in front of him, he urges her to go down the stairs.

"It's just around the corner there," he calls after her.

The stairwell is chilly and smells like dusty books. She has a bad feeling about this, but she doesn't want to act scared, so she holds onto the railing and takes one timid step at a time. As she reaches the bottom step and turns the corner, shadowy figures emerge in front of her, dancing in the faint light. When her eyes adjust, she realizes the figures are old tables, chairs, posters, and other odds and ends draped in real cobwebs. A single lightbulb casts an eerie glow over the place. It looks like a scene from a haunted house she saw in a movie.

"Um..." She gulps.

A _bang_ from behind her causes her to jump. Screaming, she whirls around.

"Oh my god, we're locked in here." The boy's still standing at the top of the stairs, his eyes as wide as hers must be.

"What?!"

The boy pushes against the door, rattling it, showing her it won't open.

Her lungs don't work.

She can't form a coherent response to this, even in her head.

Except this: that if the monsters down here don't kill her first, her mom will.

* * *

The commoner girl is crying.

Like, full-frontal-attack-sobs crying.

First she had scampered up the steps and lunged at the door, throwing her measly limbs at it repeatedly like she had some secret inner strength tucked inside her short, skinny body. Then she turned on him. She grabbed his freshly starched shirt and completely messed it up by pulling it this way and that, demanding that he get her out of here. He, of course, played dumb like he always did when he played this particularly prank until finally she gave up and collapsed at the bottom of the stairs.

He's reached the bottom step himself now.

This is the part where he's supposed to laugh at her for falling for his stupid prank, but for some bewildering reason, he can only stare.

Two scabbed knees poke out from her uniform skirt, which is obviously twisted halfway round from its correct position. A few clumps of hair have escaped her pink headband, and they stick up at odd angles.

She's blubbering that she wants her mom, wants to go home, wants to get out of here, wants to get away from him.

She looks like one of his cousins' worn plastic dolls.

Yi Jeong has played this joke on a few other kids, but this time it isn't as funny as he thought it would be, seeing this girl hunched over, terrified, her head on her knees and her face in her hands.

She looks so terribly small.

So silly.

After a minute, he pokes at her leg with his shoe.

"Hey...Hey, stop crying. I might know another way out."

The girl rubs at her tears with her fists.

Red-faced and puffy-eyed, she glares up at him.

"You tricked me. I don't trust you," she croaks.

Guilt pricks the back of his neck, but he simply shrugs at her.

"Suit yourself," he drawls, walking around her. "Hope you don't mind spending the night with rats."

That has her clambering up fast enough, but she hangs back a few paces from him as he leads her to another entrance, a hidden one towards the back.

As they climb up a steep, circular set of stairs and a door comes into view, she knocks against him in her attempt to reach it first. When it opens as she turns the lock, she looks so relieved he thinks she might cry again.

He hopes she doesn't cry again.

She looks even more unappealing with her face all splotched over like that.

When he slips through the door behind her, she turns on him, her chin jabbing up toward his chest.

"I'll have you know that was the _least_ cool thing I've _ever_ seen in my life. _Ever_."

He blinks, momentary surprise rendering him speechless. He had expected her to go through the door and to keep running.

Instead, she's standing in front of him with her arms crossed, scowling at him like he's the most disappointing person she's ever seen.

Yi Jeong isn't used to being a disappointment.

He's a So, after all.

He makes top marks in school. He's an awesome swimmer. He's an heir and a prodigy and a million other things this silly girl can never hope to be, and somehow she's cutting through him with her eyes, reducing him to the one thing he is now: a bully.

"It was a joke. Don't be such a baby." He draws himself up, puts his armour back on.

"Well, it wasn't very funny."

"Well, you're the only person who's cried about it."

"Well, you're the only person dumb enough to play it on me."

He doesn't know how to respond to that, and they've moved into each others' spaces, uncomfortably so. She seems to realize it and takes a step back, brushing her hair out of her face as she does so.

Her face looks less splotched now, though her cheeks are pinkish.

"Just tell me how to get back to the lobby. I can meet up with my class there." She barely finishes speaking when a familiar face emerges from a door a few feet behind her.

* * *

"Yi Jeong, what have you been up to?"

Ga Eul turns to see a teenage boy standing a short distance away, munching on an apple.

"Who is this?" The older boy gestures to her.

A flash of unease flickers across Yi Jeong's features, and then it's gone, replaced by a smug grin.

He must lie all the time, Ga Eul thinks.

Hmph.

"Hyung, this is..."—he pauses, probably realizing she hasn't told him her name—"Cha So Ri's niece."

Who?

"She's visiting her in the office today."

Ga Eul opens her mouth, ready to refute everything—the irritating brat—but then she remembers she isn't supposed to be there. The older boy—his brother, apparently—eyes her suspiciously.

Do their parents work for the museum? How do they know all of this?

She smiles.

"Nice to meet you." She bows. "My name is... _Cha_ Ga Eul. Yi Jeong...Sunbae...was just showing me around. But I should probably get back now." She turns back to Yi Jeong and says, loud enough for his brother to hear, "We're going to the lobby, right?"

He gives her a look she can't make out.

"Right," he bites out. "See you, Hyung."

Taking her arm before she can protest, he leads her away, past his brother, and back in the direction they'd come from earlier. She didn't exactly mean to have to _touch_ him, which is probably why he did it, just to annoy her.

Boys are always annoying her. Her mom says if a boy annoys her, it's because he likes her. But she hasn't known this boy long enough for him to like her, and even so, she wouldn't like for him to like her even if he did.

When she believes they are safely out of sight, she tries to jerk her arm away, but his grip is too strong.

"Will you let go of me now?"

"No."

"I'm not a dog, you know. I can follow you by myself."

He doesn't answer. His face is blank, but she can tell he's irritated with her.

He leads her down one hall, then another, until they finally come into the main part of the museum.

Letting go of her arm, he spins on his heel so that he's blocking her path. She comes to a screeching halt.

"What's your name? Your real name."

She squints, confused. A minute ago, he looked like he might murder her. A few seconds ago, she couldn't read him at all. And now, he's smiling at her again, like he's meeting her for the first time. It looks like the smile the ladies at the bank give her mother when she goes to get money. There's a name for it.

Polite.

'Be polite,' her mother always says. 'Smile and be polite.'

"Yah." Yi Jeong lowers his voice. "Don't tell me you got so scared you can't remember your own name." His smile is still there, but it doesn't reach his eyes.

He's teasing her, but she can't tell if he's being friendly or not.

There's a couple standing a few feet away from them, whispering about one of the exhibits.

The man glances in their direction.

Clearing her throat, she replies quickly, "Ga Eul. _Chu_ Ga Eul."

Yi Jeong smirks and tells her to follow him, sauntering off without waiting for her answer.

She follows him the rest of the way from a distance, trying to figure him out. By the time they reach the lobby, she still doesn't have a clear opinion of him.

They walk up to one of the security guards, and the guard addresses Yi Jeong directly. "Young Master So Yi Jeong, your French tutor has been looking for you."

Ga Eul's mouth drops. He hadn't been lying. He—his parents—do own the museum.

"This young girl lost her school class," he answers smoothly. "I told her I would help her find them. Her name is Chu Ga Eul."

"Ah yes, your teacher just went that way with the head of security. Thank you, Young Master, we will take it from here." Motioning to Ga Eul to wait with him, he mumbles something into the walkie talkie on his shoulder.

"Ah!" An older, clearly foreign woman with spectacles rushes upon the three of them and takes Yi Jeong by the arm in much the same way as Yi Jeong had taken her arm earlier.

She suppresses a giggle as the lady continues, sternly, "Young Master, you should have been at your lesson ten minutes ago. Come along."

He answers in a language Ga Eul doesn't understand—French, she guesses—and allows himself to be led away.

The pair is already halfway across the room when Ga Eul remembers her manners and blurts out, "Thank you."

Her voice echoes across the room, and she blushes when several people glance her way.

She's making a fool of herself, probably.

She doesn't think he will look back—and doesn't particularly care if he does because _what a jerk_ —but when he turns his head and flashes an unbelievably charming smile at her, and then he winks at her—winks at her!—she has a feeling she won't sleep that night.

Instead, she'll be dreaming of an irritating prince that lives in a museum and wears a three-piece black suit.


	10. Chapter 10

Yi Jeong took another sip of lukewarm waiting room coffee from the styrofoam cup in his hands. He supposed he could order one of his staff to bring him a hot, decent cappuccino or possibly a hot meal, but the bitter, hours old coffee reflected his current mood. He'd been sitting in the hospital most of the day, watching doctors and nurses drift in and out of his mother's room. Another suicide attempt. This time nearly successful. Nearly. The drug overdose had induced a coma; for now there was nothing to do but wait.

The rest of the F4 had come by earlier, with Jan Di tagging along. She and Jun Pyo had married right after he came back from the States, and for a few short, blissful months he'd dated her best-friend-turned-kindergarten-teacher.

Chu Ga Eul.

The second love of his life.

Equally as doomed as the first, it seemed. He'd broken it off when he'd realized how much resistance there would be from his family and the media-at-large if he tried to go public with their relationship. At the time, he'd told himself he was doing the best thing he could for her. Ga Eul deserved more than being his dirty little secret. But the truth, he knew, was that he'd been scared. He'd been running again. He knew that now, but he supposed it was too late. She'd waited on him for four years, and he'd let her down.

Again.

So when he heard a rap on the door frame, followed by her voice calling out to him, he immediately jumped up, shocked by the sight of her.

Dressed in a simple pale pink cardigan, plain white cotton shirt, and knee length gray pencil skirt, she looked more lovely than he had ever seen her. She gave him a soft, affectionate smile, like nothing painful had ever transpired between them.

Had it really been two years?

"Yi Jeong Sunbae?"

"Ga Eul-yang." He hopped up from his seat. "You came?"

"Of course I came, Sunbae." She stepped into the room. "How could I not?"

Well, she could have sent flowers or something, or conveyed her warm wishes via Jan Di, he thought. But she'd chosen to come in person. Despite the circumstances, he allowed himself a smile.

"Thank you," he replied.

"Miss." A doctor swept into the room after her. "Only family is allowed back here."

"She is family," Yi Jeong asserted. Walking over to her, he placed his hand on her back protectively. Only the tips of his fingers. Ghosting over the knitted pink cardigan.

"Of course, my apologies." The doctor glanced curiously between them, and Ga Eul blushed and ducked her head. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. A nervous habit Yi Jeong had noticed while they were dating.

He pinched a tiny piece of the knit fabric between his thumb and pointer finger. Glanced at the side of her face, tinged pink. Could she feel it? How long had it been since he'd touched her, even like this?

When they were left alone again, Yi Jeong led her over to the chair he had been sitting in.

"Please, sit. I've been sitting all day. It's good for me to stretch my legs."

"Oh...why...thank you." Setting her purse down beside her, she reached over and grasped his hand. The simple contact alone made him feel warmer, less agitated. "Are you all right?" she asked softly.

"They don't know if she's going to wake up," he said, keeping his eyes on his mother's still form beneath the hospital blankets.

"I'm so sorry, Sunbae." She squeezed his hand. "Um, Woo Bin said you were the one who found her."

Yi Jeong nodded. He'd cried so much he didn't think he had any more tears left, but Ga Eul's presence made him start trembling again, the sobs thickening in the back of his throat. Suddenly, he couldn't say anything else for fear he'd snap.

"Sunbae, why don't you sit down? There's room enough on this chair for both of us, I think. I don't take up that much room."

Ga Eul bunched herself into one corner of the oversized teal green leather armchair and patted the part of the cushion left exposed.

He hesitated a moment, letting his eyes linger on the space next to her, on her slender fingers tapping slowly. On her eyes that were full of concern. There was another chair in the room, but it was on the opposite side of his mother's bed. Technically, he could move it, but she seemed to want him to sit right beside her.

He couldn't say no.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. A nurse came in to check his mother's vitals, and they exchanged a few words. Then the nurse went out again, leaving the two of them to stare awkwardly at every space in the room but at each other.

Ga Eul had taken her hand away when he sat down, and he longed to touch it again. Studying the hem of her skirt where it met her exposed knee, he cleared his throat and asked, "Still enjoy teaching?"

Ga Eul nodded.

"It keeps me busy."

"That's good."

Another pause.

Yi Jeong inspected the seams on the blue privacy curtain hanging from a rack in the center of the room. He wondered what the doctors and nurses must think of his mother, of him. He pushed his father to the back of his mind. Locked him in a mental cupboard until he could get a stronger drink. Then he filed away the warmth of Ga Eul's body as she sat beside him, saving the memory for worse days.

"Is the museum doing good?" Ga Eul spoke again. "I mean...are you okay and everything?"

"The art world is being kind to me. For now, anyway."

"I'm happy to hear that, Sunbae." He could hear the happiness in her voice. "And everything else is going well?"

"Everything else?" Yi Jeong turned his head, unsure of what she meant. Unfortunately, she was staring at her wrist, twisting the dainty rose gold watch on her arm. A gift from her grandmother, if he remembered correctly.

"I mean...Jun Pyo was convinced you were getting married awhile back. That heiress...what was her name...Chae Soo Young?"

"No." His answer came out more abruptly than he intended.

"Oh."

"But...since we're on the subject, Jan Di mentioned you hadn't been dating anyone lately."

"No...No, I haven't."

"Busy with the kids?"

"No." Ga Eul shook her head and folded her hands in her lap.

"Oh."

"Actually..." Ga Eul blurted out, then cut off, as though reconsidering her words.

"Actually what?" Anxiety squeezed his chest.

"Actually, I haven't dated anyone since we broke up."

Ga Eul shuffled her feet. She wouldn't look at him.

He'd never felt so relieved and ashamed at the same time. Some part of her had been waiting for him, even when she thought he would marry someone else.

"I really hate you, you know," she continued quietly. "I hate you because I'll always love you. Sometimes I wish it was something I could just turn off. But I can't. I don't know how to. And I can't be with anyone else as long as I love you so..." She trailed off and wiped her face on her shirt sleeve.

Digging in his suit pocket, he offered her his handkerchief.

Knowing he might as well have been offering her salt for a bloody wound.

She took it without looking at him.

"I know what you mean," he admitted, immediately regretting opening his mouth. He hadn't planned this. He didn't think he had the right words yet to confess how he felt. To make her believe he wasn't going to fail her again.

"What?" Ga Eul turned only slightly towards him, as though she were unsure of how much she wanted to hear.

"I was supposed to marry that girl, like Jun Pyo said. Her parents would have liked it. My family would have liked it. My publicist would have. But I just...I got so far and then I couldn't go through with it. I missed you. I _wanted_ you. And I've been meaning to call you. To tell you I was stupid. But I just, I know I hurt you, and I'm sure you don't trust me. I mean, I promised you things before and...and..." He trailed off helplessly.

Great. Now he was babbling like an idiot. Yi Jeong never babbled, but he guessed he could add that to the long list of things only Ga Eul could make him do.

After a torturous amount of time had passed, Ga Eul finally showed him the rest of her face.

To his surprise, she didn't look angry or upset or hurt. She didn't seem ready to reprimand him or demand an apology or an explanation. In fact, her affectionate expression had returned. And when he stared into her eyes, he saw only relief that mirrored his own. Relief and unshed tears.

"I was hoping that...when you broke off your engagement...I was hoping I was the real reason. Am I a horrible person? Or maybe...a pathetic one?"

Sweeping a few untucked hairs back behind her ear, his hand came to rest on the smooth skin of her chin.

" _You_ could never be anything remotely pathetic. Or horrible."

"Then...do you mind if I stay with you for a while?"

"Here?"

She nodded.

He rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip.

"Only if you stay with me forever."


	11. Chapter 11

The _nerve_ of some women.

Flirting with her boyfriend right in front of her face.

Crowding around him doused in so much perfume she had to look away in order to breathe properly.

Giggling if he said so much as 'hi,' like they'd never been properly greeted before or, better yet, were so drunk they'd forgotten how to talk.

Finding any excuse to brush his arm or leg or shoulder with their claw-like nails and fake breasts and bony arms. Like pampered cats begging to be petted.

Well, Ga Eul had had quite enough, thank you.

Quite enough.

Which is why, the _next time_ a woman trotted _halfway_ across the ballroom to hand _her_ So Yi Jeong a glass of champagne, she latched onto the other glass of champagne the lady held in her hand and, without missing a beat, smiled and said, "Oh! And you brought one for his girlfriend too. You are too sweet!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little for-instance of something that could have happened in the show. (i.e. a drabble that came to me at one in the morning) Set in the episode where they went to New Caledonia but before JH kissed JD. Keep in mind that YJ & GE didn't really like each other at this point. Enjoy :)

A perfect contrast to the cool night air, bubbling water surrounded Ga Eul, enveloping her in its warmth. Hot jets massaged her back, soothing the lingering discomfort from where she'd slept the wrong way the previous night. The in-ground spa was peaceful, Ga Eul thought, as she closed her eyes and listened to the distant sound of the ocean waves lapping the shore. And New Caledonia truly was paradise. She'd never been to a beach with clearer waters or more scenic views and certainly not with a private suite right on the water. Despite her earlier annoyance at Yi Jeong for tricking her, she'd had fun on this trip and would be sad returning to life as usual.

Breathing deeply, she decided to enjoy her moment of relaxation away from everyone else. Jan Di had disappeared to who-knew-where after dinner; so had Jun Pyo and Ji Hoo. Yi Jeong and Woo Bin had sat around flirting with the two foreign girls for a bit. Then the four of them had wandered off down the beach in the direction opposite the cabins. She didn't even want to think about what they were probably up to right now.

As for herself, she was used to being alone, though she liked to dream about her soulmate, trying to guess where he was, what he might look like, what he might be doing at that exact moment.

"How's the water?"

The voice caught her off guard. Opening her eyes, she saw Yi Jeong, clad in blue swim trunks and a plain white t-shirt, standing a few feet away from her, slightly behind and to the side of the jacuzzi. If she hadn't been submerged in water, she would have felt terribly self-conscious in her blue bikini with him staring at her like that. As it was, she didn't care for the way he'd startled her. In the short time they'd known each other, he had developed a habit of sneaking up on her.

"It's, um...it's nice." She glanced around, seeing no one but him. "I thought you—I mean, everyone—had left."

"Woo Bin and the girls went further down the beach," Yi Jeong answered, offering no explanation as to why he'd come back without them.

"Oh," she replied. "I see."

"Mind if I join you?"

Walking around the perimeter of the spa, he didn't wait for a reply before pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it onto a nearby wicker lounge chair.

She tried not to fixate on the muscles in his back or his abs when he turned around and stepped into the spa. Like she'd said before, maybe other girls would be hoodwinked by his charm and good looks, but she was an exception.

Lowering himself into the water, Yi Jeong leaned back with his arms stretched across the spa's edge. He'd sat directly opposite her so they were physically the furthest from each other that they could possibly be. But that also made eye contact pretty much unavoidable.

It was like he wanted to make her uncomfortable.

Well, she refused to back down or play into whatever had gotten into his playboy brain.

"Like what you see?" he asked, smirking at her.

"Do you know when we're going back?" she asked, ignoring his question.

"Why? Do you hate being here that much?"

"No. I was just asking. I don't particularly like people not letting me in on their plans." She gave him a pointed look.

He chuckled.

"You think it was my plan to bring you here? You'll have to take that up with Jun Pyo."

"Yes, but...don't you think it was a bit unnecessary to make me believe my best friend was dying?"

"Are you telling me if I marched right into that porridge shop and told you I wanted to take you to a tropical paradise you would have gone with me, no questions asked?

"Of course not. I don't even know you. You could be some sort of...psycho or something."

Yi Jeong lifted his eyebrows.

"Hey. Do you have any idea how many girls would kill to be in your shoes right now?"

"If that's the case, then why are you here with me?"

He frowned.

"Because Jun Pyo told me to keep an eye on you. Don't get confused and start thinking I'm enjoying this."

"I didn't say I was enjoying your company either," Ga Eul snapped back, wincing at the sharpness in her tone. She didn't mean to be irritated, but he'd been acting so cocky from the moment they'd left the porridge shop. When Yi Jeong didn't say anything, his scowl deepening, she steered her gaze away from him to the lights around the cabins at the end of the beach. She'd been planning on staying in the spa for a while, but now she might go back to her room and find a drama to watch. Or some trashy reality show. Anything to escape this awkward situation.

"You know, if you do meet that soulmate, I hope you don't bite off his tongue with that mouth."

"I highly doubt that will be a concern of yours." She faced him again, resolute.

"You're right." He nodded. "I doubt we'll even know each other then. Especially if Jan Di has her eye on someone else, as you say."

"Y-yah. I didn't—I mean you can't—"

"Don't worry. If I was going to tell Jun Pyo that, I would have already done it." He stirred the water with his finger. "But as I firmly believe their relationship is doomed anyway, I don't think it will make much difference whether I tell him or not."

He didn't look happy—resigned maybe, or bored, but not happy—and Ga Eul couldn't figure out why. Hadn't he been against their relationship from the beginning?

"Well, don't look so happy about it." She scoffed. "I'm sure you'll be satisfied when that day comes."

"What does that mean?"

Ga Eul shrugged.

"Wasn't that you wanted? For them to break up?"

Yi Jeong stared out into the blackness behind her.

"I did, but...only because nothing good can from it." He looked back at her. "Why would I be happy to see my best friend hurt over a girl?"

Well, that was...a quite human comment. Ga Eul would even call the expression on his face 'concern.'

She could only nod and mumble something that sounded like 'of course.'

Readjusting her position, she stared down at the blurred figure of her legs kicking at the water gently, swirling it around. To be honest, she was getting a little hot now, and she would have gotten out and sat on the ledge for a moment if he wasn't there.

But he was there, twirling his fingers over the water's surface, legs stretched out across the spa like he owned it.

A minute passed.

Her foot hit his leg, and she pulled it back quickly, muttering an apology.

"Don't worry about it." He stood up, causing a wave of water to splash against her chest. Water dripped from his lanky frame. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ga Eul-yang."

"Oh. Good night." She dipped her head as he stepped out of the spa and grabbed a fluffy white towel from a nearby table, along with his shirt.

She couldn't read his expression, but he didn't seem upset. At least, she hoped she hadn't gotten on his nerves again, mainly because she didn't want him to say anything to Jun Pyo. Her and her careless mouth.

He toweled himself off, then hung the towel around his neck and sauntered off toward the cabins.

Wondering what would happen if—when—Jun Pyo discovered that Jan Di liked Ji Hoo, she chewed her bottom lip. She watched Yi Jeong's retreating back until his figure became a shadow in the night.

She supposed she shouldn't be so hard on him. They were both, after all, trying to protect their friends.


	13. Chapter 13

Slut. Gold-digger. Commoner trash.

Yeah, she'd heard it all. Mostly from Yi Jeong's adoring fan group online but sometimes in person when a girl was bold enough to mutter it under her breath as Ga Eul passed by. No one said anything to her face, but she suspected that was because she always stayed close to Yi Jeong at events set in 'his world.'

Tonight they'd been at such an event—a private birthday celebration at an exclusive club for one of Yi Jeong's school acquaintances.

Private meaning two hundred of the guy's closest friends.

She'd gone to the bathroom for five minutes, and when she came back, a crowd had gathered around Yi Jeong, who was pummeling some random guy into the floor like the man must have murdered someone.

He hadn't said much when he finally let go of the guy, leaving him on the floor for the gawking bystanders to attend to. Or when he latched onto her arm and dragged her out of the place. Or in the five minutes they sat outside the club in his car, which he didn't bother to turn on, with her awkwardly glancing between her phone and his still-furious expression.

She'd tried to think of what to say that wouldn't potentially upset him further, rubbing her hands over and over the skirt of her shimmery silver backless dress.

Another of Yi Jeong's selections.

Finally, realizing that they'd probably be sitting there till the sun came up unless she said something, she took the plunge.

"Sunbae?" she squeaked.

His mouth twitched, twisted into a murderous scowl. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. Said nothing.

"Sunbae?" she tried again, a little louder.

He glanced over at her, eyes lighting up in surprise as though he'd forgotten she was there. The scowl remained.

"What?" It came out like a threat.

She flinched and backtracked.

"Nothing. Sorry."

His scowl softened slightly.

"No, it's..." He ran his fingers through his scalp. Messed up his hair. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's okay. Um...can I ask what happened?"

Yi Jeong didn't look at her. He brought his fist to his mouth and bit down on his knuckle, then dropped the hand back in his lap.

"Don't worry about it." He took a breath, seemed to compose himself. He stuck his key in the ignition. The car roared to life. "I'll take you home."

Reaching over, she placed her hand over his hand on the steering wheel.

"You don't have to take me home. If you want to sit here a while longer, we can. Or we can...I don't know...go back to your studio or something." She said that partly because she didn't want him driving in the state he was in and partly because she didn't want him to be alone in the state he was in. She could only imagine what had set him off—it had to be something about his parents or something about his hand. Or maybe something about one of the other F4 members.

In other words, it had to be something that, knowing Yi Jeong, would fester in his brain until he snapped at someone else or drunk himself into oblivion, neither of those ideas being ones she wanted to entertain.

But maybe if she could get him to talk to her first…

They sat in silence a few more minutes. The car sat there too, idling with the radio turned off. He didn't respond to her comment, but he didn't drive away, either.

Instead, he stared out the window at the grey columns holding up the parking deck, looking like he was debating something within himself.

She flipped the air conditioning on. Folded her legs up under her. Stared out her own window at the partiers walking back to their cars.

"I, uh"—he cleared his throat—"I'm sorry the night got ruined. Some people are just idiots that don't know when to shut the fuck up." He whispered the last part like an aside to himself.

"Who was that guy?"

Yi Jeong shrugged.

"I don't know. A friend of Park Jae Min's, I think."

"Who?"

"You don't know him. Just...never mind."

"Yah," she scolded softly. "You shouldn't waste punches on people you don't even know like that. What if you'd done something to your hand again?" She touched the hand that been injured, but he pulled it away, shaking it out.

"He started it."

"He punched you?" She inspected his face, but she didn't see any signs of bruising.

"No." He finally looked at her. "He was just saying things he had no business saying."

"About your family?" She scrunched her eyebrows. She said the word 'family' carefully, not wanting to irritate him by mentioning his mother or father in particular.

"No."

"Woo Bin Sunbae?" She knew he had a habit of defending Woo Bin, in particular, out of all of the F4.

"No."

"Oh...Well..." She trailed off, unsure how to proceed without being pushy.

"It was you."

"What?"

"He was saying things about you he had no business saying, so...I shut him up." His tone was dark, firm. Final. He tucked a few tendrils of hair behind her ear. "Nobody talks about my girl like that."

She smiled, despite the seriousness of his tone. She always liked it when he referred to her as 'his girl.' Also, he looked unfairly handsome when he was mad. Though she'd never admit that to him.

"Well, then...Thank you. But that's still no excuse to injure yourself again."

"Of course. Leave it to Ga Eul-yang to be mad at me for defending her."

"I'm not mad. I just don't want you to get hurt over something so stupid. No matter what he said, it's just words. Broken bones are a bit more...permanent."

His lips quirked up in a tiny smile.

"Don't worry. No more broken bones. I promise."

"No more fights," she corrected.

"I didn't say no more fights. But if I get into any more fights, I promise I'll win. How about that?"

"You're crazy."

She punched his arm.

"And you're going to injure me before a stranger in a club will." He clutched his arm, pretending to be wounded. "Do you always need to convey your annoyance by physically assaulting me?"

Ga Eul laughed.

"Assault, Sunbae? Now you're being ridiculous. And don't think if you put on that act, I'll feel sorry for you and...give you a treat or something."

"But don't you think I deserve a reward for such valiant behavior?"

"Don't you think I need to know what happened so I can determine what type of reward you deserve?"

"Depending on the reward, I'll take it whether I deserve it or not." He grinned.

"Typical." She flicked him on the forehead. "Anyway, you didn't answer my question. What did he say to make you so mad?"

Yi Jeong turned his head away and studied the wall again. Like he didn't want to look at her when he said it.

"He asked if I was going to auction you off at the end of the night. Said he'd pay top dollar to—anyway, you get the gist. So I told him if he disrespected my girlfriend again, I'd rip his fucking face off." Yi Jeong cracked his knuckles. "Like I said, some people don't know when to keep their mouths shut."


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a request for more on this New Caledonia scene from Yi Jeong's POV (original scene was Chapter 12 of this fic, and it was only in GE's POV). I basically rewrote the scene in YJ's POV instead of GE's. I had fun writing this, and I hope you enjoy :)

A cool breeze swept down the beach as Yi Jeong made his way back to the cabins, ruffling his white t-shirt. Woo Bin and the girls had headed off further down the beach. He could have stayed with them and made a night of it, eventually taking one girl one way while Woo Bin took the other girl another way, but tonight he wasn't feeling it. He'd decided to go to bed early and wake up refreshed. Hopefully he wouldn't spend all day tomorrow trailing after Geum Jan Di's tacky friend. She stuck out so painfully as someone who'd never been let out of Korea before. Gawking and taking pictures of everything she saw. And don't even get him started on those horrid, cheap souvenirs she'd bought at the roadside stalls. She'd been robbed blind by some of the vendors, too, though he hadn't mentioned a word about it. Served her right for making him visit such an eyesore.

Okay, fine. He'd stepped in once— _once_ —when the amount the saleswoman had asked for was simply too much. Well, not so much stepped in as grabbed her arm and dragged her off in the opposite direction for a full two or three minutes, with her yelling at him every step of the way.

Served her right for being such a foolish, childish…

His train of thought stopped as he approached their private pool area, which also included a spa.

And who should he see lounging in the spa alone, in the dead of night, but the foolish girl herself.

She didn't notice when he approached, and when he stepped closer he saw that her eyes were closed.

He also saw that she wasn't wearing anything over her bathing suit top, as she had for most of the trip. Her turquoise bikini shimmered in the lamplight that shone over the rippling water, over her porcelain skin. She had her hair done up the same way it was at dinner so that he could see the smooth angles of her face. Although he couldn't see most of her, it wasn't a bad image. If he didn't know her, he might find her attractive, leaning her slender neck back like that and breathing slowly in and out, her face placid.

He shook himself.

He really did need to go to sleep if he was finding Chu Ga Eul attractive.

"How's the water?" he asked, certain that if he could get her talking her self-righteous attitude would erase all of his previous thoughts about her body.

She jerked her head up and opened her eyes wide. No doubt startled to see him.

"It's, um...it's nice." She glanced to the side of him, probably expecting to see Woo Bin and the girls. "I thought you—I mean, everyone—had left."

'Oh, you would love that, wouldn't you?' he thought, suddenly in the mood to annoy her. And what better way than to ruin her moment of tranquility by inserting himself into her space?

"Woo Bin and the girls went further down the beach," he said.

"Oh. I see."

"Mind if I join you?" He didn't give her a chance to answer before he walked the perimeter of the spa, pulling his shirt off as he went. He tossed the shirt onto a lounge chair and entered the water, jolting at the sudden heat but soon acclimating to it. She'd had the right idea by coming in the spa at least. The warm water calmed him, feeling so good it almost made up for him being stuck in there with her.

He didn't try to move close to her, unsure of what would freak her out more—sitting right next to her or blatantly staring at her from across the water.

He chose blatant staring. That way he could clearly view her reactions.

To his amusement, she stared back at him defiantly.

"Like what you see?" he asked, grinning.

"Do you know when we're going back?" she asked.

"Why? Do you hate being here that much?"

"No. I was just asking. I don't particularly like people not letting me in on their plans."

He chuckled at her irritation.

"You think it was my plan to bring you here? You'll have to take that up with Jun Pyo."

"Yes, but...don't you think it was a bit unnecessary to make me believe my best friend was dying?"

"Are you telling me if I marched right into that porridge shop and told you I wanted to take you to a tropical paradise you would have gone with me, no questions asked?"

"Of course not. I don't even know you. You could be some sort of...psycho or something."

Yi Jeong lifted his eyebrows. A psycho? That was a first.

"Hey. Do you have any idea how many girls would kill to be in your shoes right now?" he asked, well aware that he could have brought practically any girl he wanted on the trip, no questions asked. Any girl he wanted. Except for her.

"If that's the case, then why are you here with me?"

The question caught him off guard, and he frowned. In the short time he'd known her, she'd developed a habit of using his words against him, and he didn't like it.

"Because Jun Pyo told me to keep an eye on you," he spat out. "Don't get confused and start thinking I'm enjoying this."

"I didn't say I was enjoying your company either," she retorted, crossing her arms.

He couldn't think of what to say to that—obviously he shouldn't care whether she enjoyed his company or not. They'd been stuck together at the whim of his tyrannical friend, and that was that. There was certainly no affection lost between them.

After a moment, she looked away from him, as though realizing they'd come to an impasse—or perhaps, if he read her face correctly, regretting what she'd said.

If he read Ga Eul as a person correctly, he'd say she was a nice girl—the kind of nice girl that sickened him, sure, but a nice girl nonetheless. She probably rarely said mean things and mulled over them at night when she did. Which meant she must be really irritated with him to take that kind of tone.

Which, in turn, irritated him more, because she was being horribly unfair. He had never wanted to take her on this damn trip to begin with. Or talk to her about Jan Di. Or meet her at all, for that matter. And here she was, looking her nose down at him like he was a pesky bug she wanted to swat away.

Girls did not _swat_ So Yi Jeong.

"You know, if you do meet that soulmate, I hope you don't bite off his tongue with that mouth," he said.

"I highly doubt that will be a concern of yours," she replied, her words laced with condescension.

Her. Condescending to him. Hah!

"You're right." He nodded. "I doubt we'll even know each other then." He tried to sound as indifferent as possible. Then, remembering dinner, he remarked, "Especially if Jan Di has her eye on someone else, as you say."

"Y-yah. I didn't—I mean you can't—"

"Don't worry. If I was going to tell Jun Pyo that, I would have already done it." He stirred the water with his finger. "But as I firmly believe their relationship is doomed anyway, I don't think it will make much difference whether I tell him or not." The last part came out bitterly. He honestly hated it for Jun Pyo. The guy had so little freedom in life—even less than the rest of the F4, though they were largely in the same boat. To finally have found someone who made him happy like that—someone who gave him something to look forward to—only to have that person snatched away in an instant...well, it was a feeling he didn't wish on anyone, having experienced a similar loss himself.

"Well, don't look so happy about it." Ga Eul scoffed. "I'm sure you'll be satisfied when that day comes."

"What does that mean?"

Ga Eul shrugged.

"Wasn't that you wanted? For them to break up?"

Yi Jeong stared out into the night, at the murky, shadowy waves crashing on the shore. What he _wanted_? Didn't she get it? _None_ of this was about what any of them _wanted_. It had to do with what other people wanted for them, things that had been planned before they'd even been born, things that had been set in motion long before Jun Pyo had ever met Jan Di.

Commoners and their simple, foolish desires.

"I did, but...only because nothing good can come from it." He looked right at her. "Why would I be happy to see my best friend hurt over a girl?"

She dropped her gaze, nodded, and mumbled something. Twisted her body in the water.

They kept silent for a few minutes. Her legs kicked aimlessly in his direction, her foot finally hitting his leg. She pulled her leg back quickly, muttering an apology.

"Don't worry about it." He stood, suddenly in the mood to be alone. Thinking about Jun Pyo's impending breakup with Jan Di only led to his own unpleasant memories. If he allowed his brain to chase that rabbit trail long enough, he'd end up at the last night he saw Eun Jae before she disappeared.

That was not a night he'd like to relive.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ga Eul-yang," he said, stepping out of the water. Grabbing his shirt and towel, he dried his hair and draped the towel around his shoulders. He heard her wish him good night, but he didn't say anything further, already cataloguing the alcohol he had in his room.

That country girl and her careless mouth.


	15. Chapter 15

"Ga Eul-yang…Ga Eul-yang…Ga Eul-yang—"

"Shhhh! I'm trying to concentrate."

"You're beating me. Why would I want you to concentrate?"

"Shut up and play the game, Sunbae. Unless you're afraid of losing to a girl."

"I've never lost to a girl in my life."

Ga Eul scoffed.

"Only because the lights went off."

"Unbelievable. You're still hung up on a swimming race that happened years ago. Although…you have gotten pretty good at this game." He muttered the last part, punching the game control buttons faster, harder. Swearing under his breath.

"What was that, Sunbae?"

"I said—holy…how did you do that?!" Yi Jeong nearly threw the controller as his last life disappeared from the screen. He couldn't believe Ga Eul had killed him three times, while he'd only taken one of her lives.

"Practice." Ga Eul flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Who have you been practicing with?! You beat my high score!" Yi Jeong stared wide-eyed at the flashing numbers on the screen declaring his girlfriend's victory.

Ga Eul giggled and set her controller down on the coffee table. They'd been sitting on the couch and playing on Yi Jeong's Xbox for an hour. Ga Eul didn't play video games much, but sometimes she played with Yi Jeong when she stayed over at his apartment.

"Woo Bin Sunbae," she answered, folding her legs underneath her. She'd dressed casually today in a white t-shirt with black lettering and jean shorts; similarly, Yi Jeong wore a plain white t-shirt and gray sweatpants, a sight she was sure only a few people, including herself, had witnessed. She'd never seen him leave the house not dressed like he was ready for an impromptu photo shoot.

She liked seeing him like this.

"You told me he was the only person who could beat you," she continued. "Remember?"

"Oh, I see how it is." Yi Jeong tossed his black controller onto the coffee table. It clattered and skid across the wood surface but knocked into Ga Eul's white controller and stopped short of falling to the floor. "The two of you are ganging up on me." He gave her a mock-accusing glare.

At least, he had to admit that between Ga Eul and Woo Bin, he would choose losing to Ga Eul any day. Sure, she'd blasted his high score to smithereens...but she'd looked cute doing it.

Ga Eul shrugged, looking every inch like the cat who ate the mouse.

"It can be whatever you think it is. By the way, you owe me a massage." She grinned.

"I _owe you_ a massage?"

"A few weeks ago, you said I'd get a prize if I beat you," she stated matter-of-factly. "I want a massage."

Pulling her t-shirt over her head, Ga Eul slid over onto Yi Jeong's lap in her shorts and white lace bralette.

"Thirty minutes ought to be enough."

"Only thirty?" Yi Jeong snorted. "I don't give Woo Bin massages, you know," he said, rubbing her arms and shoulders nonetheless. He traced one strap of her bralette from its base to her shoulder.

"Well, I hope not, Sunbae. That would be weird," Ga Eul replied.

"If I give you a massage, what do I get?"

"What do you mean, what do you get? I won."

"Today, but…I beat you, like, twenty times before that. That means I have lots of things I can ask you to do."

"But I never said I'd give you a prize. Anyway, you should have taken advantage of that earlier. It's too late now."

"All right then, how about we play another game? One you haven't played with Woo Bin." Yi Jeong kissed her bare shoulder, running his fingers along her shoulder blades.

"You don't know what all I've played with Woo Bin Sunbae," she teased, though actually, she'd only ever played that one game with Woo Bin. One day she had run into him at the F4's old hangout, and he looked out of sorts. Hoping to cheer him up and maybe draw out what was bothering him, she'd asked if he could teach her how to play. Thankfully, he wasn't just good at playing the game. He knew all of Yi Jeong's strategies.

"This isn't something you would have played with him," Yi Jeong continued. "At least, you better not have."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

Ga Eul slid Yi Jeong's silver ring off and placed it on her thumb. Yi Jeong thought his ring looked nice on her, like it belonged there, though it did dwarf her tiny fingers.

"Sharing is caring," she said. "That's what I teach my students every day."

"That doesn't apply to everything," he murmured into her neck. She smelled like clay and lavender soap. Calming, yet intoxicating.

"But don't you think I should practice what I teach?" Ga Eul twisted around in his lap so that her body was turned to the side. Her face stopped inches from his, a coy expression gracing her features.

"No," he answered pointedly. "Sometimes I forget how annoying you are." He poked her forehead, and she tried to grab his finger, but he was too fast and wrenched it away.

At her slight pout, he grinned.

"You still haven't told me what game we're playing," she stated.

"It's called the Charming Casanova seduces the Annoying Seonsaengnim." Smirking, he tilted his head slowly down—deliberately so, looking straight into her eyes, so that he could see the effect he had on her written on her face. But right when his lips almost touched hers, Ga Eul pulled her face away abruptly, so that his mouth didn't even graze her cheek.

"Hmmm, no. I have a better idea," she asserted with an amused smile. Getting up from the couch, she grabbed her shirt from the floor and headed wordlessly into his bedroom.

Irritated at his sudden lack of control, Yi Jeong leaned over the arm of the couch and called after her, "What? Where are you going?"

Ga Eul didn't answer. She disappeared into the dim afternoon light of the bedroom, leaving Yi Jeong to stare at the empty doorway.

When she didn't return after a few moments, Yi Jeong cut the Xbox off and followed her.

"Hey!" he called out. A shirt slapped his face as Yi Jeong entered the bedroom, and he caught it as it fell to the hardwood floor. It was her shirt—the one she'd taken with her—that she'd thrown at him from her perch on the edge of the bed. She sat with her legs crossed, still in her jean shorts and bralette, smiling wickedly.

"Sunbae, you want to play a game?" she asked, leaning back on her forearms. "It's called the Annoying Casanova follows the Charming Seonsaengnim _everywhere_." She tilted her head thoughtfully, her gaze roaming around the room. "You must be on—what?"—her gaze landed on him—"level 1000 already."


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drabble inspired by a soeulmates playlist one of my wonderful readers sent to me recently. Yi Jeong's thoughts on his budding relationship with Ga Eul.
> 
> Thanks elenabeat :)

_"Nothing seems to burn me like you do. I crave annihilation." - i_o & Lights, "Annihilation"_

Yi Jeong stared into the glass jewelry case, studying each ring with artistic intensity. Woven knot bands. Smooth, unadorned bands. Diamond-studded bands. Bands with lesser gemstones. Bands with various etched patterns.

He had to get the design right.

At least that's what he blamed his indecision on. Artistic scrutiny. When really he'd been second-guessing his decision to get the rings at all from the minute he started the drive over.

He hadn't promised Ga Eul couple rings for their hundred day anniversary. She hadn't mentioned them either; she didn't know he was here. He could leave right now, and no one would be any wiser.

Except for Woo Bin, who'd discovered 'couple rings' in his search history a few days ago and had been ribbing him ever since.

And the saleslady, who had attended him back when he used to bring his dates to this store. He'd forgotten about her until she started flirting with him the moment he walked in the door, and then he remembered why he'd always come to this store. It was nice to have a distraction—an additional one—while whoever he had on his arm oohed and aahed over meaningless baubles.

Now he found the saleslady annoying.

Fortunately, she hadn't said much after he told her what he'd come to look at.

Couple rings.

He sighed and pretended to clear his throat. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he walked over to another case without looking up.

He'd finally cracked. This was it. A hundred days of trying to convince himself he was just having a bit of fun with a girl he happened to like for more than one night and more than one reason...and this was what he had to show for it.

Couple rings. What an idiotic custom.

Soon, she'd be decorating his newly purchased apartment with all sorts of cozy, homey, non-masculine furnishings and asking him for a puppy or a cat or a goldfish— _anything_ they could share custody of. He'd be planning his nights with the guys around his nights with her instead of planning his dates with her around his other plans.

Or worse. Someday she'd realize she could do better, or he'd break her heart, or both. Then he'd always have this stupid ring to remind him of what had been. And what had not.

In any case, the concept of couple rings suited Ga Eul's romantic tastes, and he didn't have any problem imagining her wearing a ring that stated boldly, for all the men in Seoul to see, that she was his and she was taken.

But for himself, the idea seemed far-fetched. For so long, he'd been proud of the fact that no woman could wield a hold over him.

He was lonely, but never alone, and he liked it that way.

These rings, therefore, symbolized the end of an era.

Already, he could feel all the things he'd defined himself by being stripped from him, one by one.

He was dating a good girl, a silly girl, one so close to his best friends that they considered her family.

Most of their dates were quite simple. Ga Eul preferred ice cream and a walk in the park to crowded clubs and high-end restaurants.

They'd probably been on twenty dates by now. Not counting the fact that he drove her home from work a lot of nights. And no sex. Not even close.

Girls used to cry and fawn over him, and he never returned a single phone call. Now, if he didn't see Ga Eul during the day, he would call her that night. First. Without being asked to.

Just to make sure she hadn't been kidnapped. Or hospitalized. Or had decided to break up with him.

He'd always despised clingy girls, but holy shit, he was turning into something just as bad.

Who was he kidding? He couldn't be indifferent when deep down he was terrified of losing her.

He'd always sensed that if he let her in she would destroy him slowly, sweetly, irreversibly.

So he'd let her in. Of course he did. He had a death wish.

"These." He pointed at two plain white gold rings with tiny inlaid diamonds circling the band.

A simple design for Ga Eul. Diamonds for himself.

He gave the saleslady the correct sizes and was told when they would be ready. In a forced professional tone, she asked if he wanted the rings personalized.

At least he'd prepared for this part. Prepared, so he didn't have to say anything out loud.

Like saying the words would jinx them.

Fishing a folded piece of paper out of his coat pocket, he instructed, "Please engrave this on the inside of the rings."

He laid the creased paper on top of the case.

In bold script, he'd written the words: _So Yi Jeong & Chu Ga Eul, Soulmates_


	17. Chapter 17

"Sunbae...what _is_ all of this?" Ga Eul stood in the doorway to her boyfriend's bedroom, gaping at the huge collection of stuffed animals in all sizes that completely covered the perimeter of the room as well as the bed.

"A present," Yi Jeong answered from behind her. Today was Wednesday, and she'd come over to his apartment to study. And also not to study. Yeah...mostly that.

But now she was staring at a dozen stuffed bears in various colors, giraffes and penguins and puppies with large, pleading eyes, and a few sea creatures from the aquarium they'd visited not long ago. A beluga whale and a seal and a dolphin.

In the center of the bed lay a life-size honey brown teddy bear with a red ribbon around his neck. He was bigger than Ga Eul. The kind she'd always begged her father to buy for her as a little kid, and he'd refused.

_If we put that in your bedroom, there will be no room for you!_ he'd say.

Her bedroom was still the same size, and now that she was older, it had more stuff in it. But of course, Yi Jeong wouldn't have thought of that, only his endless wallet, when he bought all of the friendly, plush faces staring back at her.

"But it's not my birthday...or...our anniversary...or…." She trailed off, unsure why she was protesting. Yi Jeong liked to be extravagant. She knew that, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it. But there was usually an occasion for it. Or a trip. Or...some regard for the physical space in her parents' house.

"It's a present," he repeated. "For being my girlfriend."

"Oh," she whispered, mouth still agape.

"Oh? Jun—I mean, Jan Di said you liked stuffed animals."

"Oh, I do like them! I-I mean, thank you. I like it. I really like it. I just...You know, you could have just bought me one." She laughed, stepping into the room. "Where am I supposed to put all of these?" she asked, spinning around to face him. He stood in the door frame wearing a black suit with a dress shirt that was white at the top and black at the bottom. Hands stuffed in his pockets. No earring today.

"Well, where did you put all the other ones?" he asked.

"Other ones?" Ga Eul frowned, and Yi Jeong instantly looked nervous.

"I just meant...where you normally put things like that." Running his fingers through his hair, he brushed past her and picked up the life size teddy bear. Bringing it over to her, he hid behind it and brought up the bear's arm to tap her on the shoulder.

In a high-pitched voice, he said, pretending to be the bear, "Get me out of here! Please! He's locked me in this room all day!"

Ga Eul giggled.

"Well, weren't you having fun with all of your friends?" She gestured to the other stuffed animals.

"No. They're driving me crazy! Take me with you! Please! Please!" The bear wrapped both arms around her shoulders and shook her in a pleading gesture. "Please! Please!"

"Okay! Okay!" Ga Eul managed between laughs. "You can go home with me."

"Yay!" Clearing his throat, Yi Jeong popped his head up and continued in a normal voice, "See? You have to take them now. They don't like me."

"Well, why don't I pick out my favorite ones since I can't possibly take them all?"

"Sure." He rested his chin on top of the bear's head.

"Sunbae, what's going on here?"

"Nothing's going on."

"Something's going on."

"I'm rich. I like spending money."

Ga Eul raised her eyebrows suspiciously.

"What?" he asked.

She gave him a look.

"Sunbae...what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. Don't listen to him. The door to my bedroom was unlocked." He nodded to the bear under his chin.

"Leave the poor bear out of this. This is between you and me." She pointed at herself, then poked Yi Jeong's shoulder where it stuck out behind the bear's massive arm.

After a long moment, Yi Jeong sighed and said, "Okay, fine. It's just...Jun Pyo said Soo Pyo got you all those stuffed animals out of the stupid claw machine, and you really liked it, so..I thought you'd like these." He glanced awkwardly away, and then, thrusting the large bear into her arms, said, "Anyway, just take the stupid bear." Turning away from her, he bent over the bed, collecting the other animals on it and putting them on the floor.

Setting the bear down on the carpet, she approached him from behind and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Thank you," she said, "but I already have a life-sized teddy bear."

"You do?" Yi Jeong asked, confusion evident in his voice. Probably because he'd seen her bedroom a few times and knew for a fact she did not.

"It's you, silly," she mumbled into his back.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For clarification purposes in the current climate, Ga Eul does not have the coronavirus in this chapter. Just a regular stomach virus...Remember those? :O

Ga Eul had thrown up early that morning. Around four.

She had a fever and a headache. And chills that made her drag the oversized teddy bear Yi Jeong had bought her into bed with her. She'd wrapped herself around the bear's plush body and wished it was Yi Jeong instead, if only for the body heat.

At the clinic, the doctor had determined she had a stomach virus and sent her home with an antibiotic. She'd missed all of her classes that day, but somehow she'd remembered, between her mother urging her to go see the doctor and the miserable wait inside the clinic, to text Yi Jeong and let him know not to pick her up to take her to school that morning. They'd talked on the phone for a minute after she'd gotten back from the clinic, and she'd thought he would continue with his day as usual.

It wasn't like she'd be very fun in her current state.

Or even very lucid.

So the last thing Ga Eul expected to see when she opened her eyes after a few hours' nap was Yi Jeong in his black suit and tie, comfortably situated in the worn pink armchair beside her bed with his legs crossed, intently reading an art magazine.

Immediately, she glanced down, glad that she had exchanged the ratty white t-shirt she'd been wearing the night before for a newer blue one.

"Your mom's fixing some soup," Yi Jeong supplied when he noticed she had woken up, as if that answered the question of how he had gotten there.

"My mom let you into my room?" she croaked.

Oh gosh, her voice sounded awful.

"Hey. I'm a trustworthy person," he answered smoothly, his fingers dancing along the edge of the magazine as he flipped the page.

She gave him a dubious look. Not trusting her voice.

"Well...She did leave the door wide open," he conceded.

"I see," Ga Eul managed. Her voice sounded less raspy that time but not completely normal. She smiled weakly and tried to sit up. Her arms nearly gave out from the effort.

"Hey, hey, take it easy." Yi Jeong propped up an extra pillow behind her.

"I'm supposed to eat soup. I can't do that lying down," she mumbled. "I wasn't expecting to see you here," she added. "This isn't a hospital, you know. You don't have to sit here and read until I get better."

"I can't visit my girlfriend when she's sick?" He looked positively wounded by the assertion.

'You mean, when she looks and feels like death?' Ga Eul wanted to reply. Instead, she said, "But you have therapy today."

"I rescheduled." He shrugged. "It's fine. But I can leave and let you rest, if you want."

Ga Eul shook her head.

"No, no." She looked down at her hands bashfully. "I like you being here."

Despite how embarrassing this was. She hadn't even taken a shower that morning, just collapsed into bed when she'd returned from the doctor. She couldn't see her hair in the mirror from her position on the bed, but she bet it was a tangled mess.

"Good," Yi Jeong answered, closing his magazine. "'Cause I'm not going away. I'm here to annoy you." Setting the magazine on her bedside table, he stood up. "Move over."

"What?"

"Never mind. I'll go around to the other side."

Ga Eul scrunched her eyebrows, unsure of what he meant by that until he walked around to the other side of her bed and sat down beside her. Squeezing himself onto the tiny second half of her twin-sized bed, he stretched his legs out and swung his arm around her shoulders.

"See? Isn't that better? Now you can sit up and also have a pillow to lean on."

He smiled down at her, and she realized he meant for her to lean on _him_.

"Oh...Thank you."

He gathered her closer, and Ga Eul laid her head on his chest.

Yi Jeong rested his head against her headboard and murmured, "You've been sleeping for so long, you made me sleepy. I've probably already caught your virus too." He sighed. "If I don't get any of my pieces finished this week, I'm blaming you." Yet, as he said it, he rubbed circles on her forearm with his thumb and clutched her tighter, and she knew he was kidding. Or maybe he didn't care.

Despite her fatigue and the headache threatening to surface again, she smiled and buried her face in his white dress shirt.

Yi Jeong was much, much warmer than her stuffed bear.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in an angsty mood right now and kinda don't care that I've now written, like, ten different versions of these two getting together. Presenting the "friends with benefits" trope in all its heartrending glory.

"I don't want to do this anymore," Ga Eul stated before Yi Jeong had gotten a chance to touch her. Before he could close the gap between where he stood next to a nineteenth century bottle of Pinot Grigio and where she stood in front of the closed cellar door. He'd been waiting in the wine cellar of Woo Bin's house for fifteen minutes, unsure if she'd gotten held up by their friends or if she'd gotten lost or if she'd decided not to come after all.

He frowned at her announcement, his mood instantly souring.

Lately, she hadn't been responding as quickly to his messages about meeting up. And she'd been sending too few messages of her own. At first, he'd thought she'd been busy with school or working more shifts at the porridge shop. Then, as time went on, he thought maybe she wasn't enjoying herself as much as she claimed to be.

Not that anyone wouldn't enjoy themselves with him, but...Ga Eul was different from the girls he usually played around with. She'd told him straight out they couldn't have sex—well, not the traditional kind, anyway—that she was saving herself for her soulmate. So they'd had three long months of kissing and touching and occasionally cuddling. Which was not exactly what he'd had in mind, but he'd take what he could get.

The cuddling, of course, was Ga Eul's idea. More like a stipulation, really. It wasn't really his thing, but at least he got to touch her more. And after they cuddled, sometimes they would do other things. Normal friend things like watching movies and ordering takeout. Because, he'd argued to himself, that was the 'friend' part in their 'friends with benefits' agreement.

And yeah, maybe he'd conveniently ignored that because of that they'd been veering dangerously into 'relationship' territory. Something he'd warned her from the beginning she would not be getting out of him.

It still ate away at him, though. Knowing one day she'd find her soulmate, and it would all be over. And she'd walk in and suddenly announce the end to him, like she was doing right now.

He'd prepared himself for a suave exit. Had polished off a congratulatory speech in his head, ignoring the jealousy that surfaced every time he thought of another guy touching her as he had. Ignoring how he thought of her, unquestionably, as his.

Their relationship—pardon the term—was purely physical. It was all that could be expected from two people as fundamentally different as they were.

Still, her statement caught him off guard, if only because he'd been thinking about kissing her senseless from the moment she'd walked into Woo Bin's party—he forgot the occasion—wearing a shimmering champagne-colored backless dress. He'd gotten himself all worked up, and now, clearly, that was not going to happen.

Ever again.

"Yi Jeong Sunbae? Did you hear me?" Her voice grew a little louder, and she craned her neck towards him though her feet stayed rooted to the spot. "I'm sorry, but I can't keep doing this."

"What do you mean?" His voice came out smooth, at least. "I thought we were having fun."

"We...I mean, it _was_ fun," she admitted, her voice growing quieter.

" _Was_?" Yi Jeong blinked.

"I just...I've thought a lot about it, and I don't want to continue." Ga Eul shrugged her arms in a helpless manner.

"Let me guess. Someone at your college." He smiled nonchalantly, though on the inside he was seething.

Ga Eul, however, looked utterly confused by the comment.

"What do you mean?" she asked, creasing her brow.

"There's someone you want to go out with. At your college," he clarified. Did she have to make him repeat something like that, honestly?

"No." Ga Eul shook her head. "It's nothing like that."

Yi Jeong frowned.

"So...there's no one else?"

"No." Her eyes fluttered nervously around the room.

"Then what is it?"

"I just"—she looked straight at him, working her mouth like she was considering something—"I want to be your girlfriend," she confessed.

He knew that. Bastard that he was.

"Or I don't want to be with you at all." She wrapped her arms around herself as if cold. "And since I can't be your girlfriend, I've decided I don't want to be with you at all." She recited the lines like she'd memorized them. Maybe she'd practiced saying them in front of her bathroom mirror as she'd curled her hair for tonight.

" _This_ was _your_ idea," he countered, moving closer toward her. He didn't miss how she shuffled back against the door.

Well, it had been her idea. Kind of.

He'd kissed her once at his studio, apologized, and a few weeks later, when he'd driven her home from a group dinner, she'd asked him if he wanted to do it again.

The 'no strings attached' had been his stipulation.

Could he help it if she'd agreed?

"I know. I know I said we could just have fun if you wanted," Ga Eul was currently saying, "but Sunbae, do I honestly strike you as someone who would be content hooking up in the long term? The answer's 'no,' right? Then...I think I better be getting back to the party." She gave him a simple nod. "Excuse me. I'll be leaving first."

"Ga Eul-yang," he began, but she had already gone out the door. It swung on its hinges and closed with a resounding thud, leaving him alone with the hundred-year-old bottles of liquor.

* * *

If he thought about it hard enough, Yi Jeong could reason out that the old him would probably have stayed in the wine cellar, drinking his loneliness away.

And perhaps it would have been better if he'd stayed anywhere, doing anything other than following Ga Eul through the crowd of people drinking and dancing in the middle of Woo Bin's expansive living room.

It would have been better if he hadn't then proceeded to observe her as she floated around the room, as she nibbled on refreshments and spoke to random people, for the rest of the evening while getting more drunk than he had in a long time. Since he'd started 'hanging out' with her, he realized.

It would have been better if some idiot hadn't decided _he_ thought Ga Eul looked pretty damn good in that backless dress too. And tugged her onto the dance floor. It would have been better if she hadn't laughed—she was tipsy, he could tell—like she was fucking enjoying herself. But it would have been even better if she actually _had_ _been_ enjoying herself, he guessed, because the moment she started pulling away from the guy, he realized she'd laughed out of nervousness. The way she'd laughed the first time he'd pulled her onto his lap—though, to be fair, she hadn't tried to get off of him.

But she _was_ trying to get away from this other guy who had a lock on her wrist. She was twisting away from him and looking helplessly about for someone she knew. Or someone who cared enough to intervene. He could see that somewhat clearly through the haze of alcohol.

And it would have been better if he wasn't drunk when he stumbled towards her. And stumbled into the guy with the wrist-lock on her. Limbs flailing. His throat felt raw as he yelled. Incoherent ramblings. _Mine_ and _fuck_ and _you_.

It would have been so much better if he wasn't drunk because suddenly he was flat on his back, his head pounding from where he'd hit the hardwood floor.

He felt a weight like a body covering his and heard someone screaming, "Don't you dare hurt him!" And it sounded like Ga Eul. Or maybe he was already dreaming.

Everything had gone black.

* * *

When he came to, he saw her, curled up in an armchair and gazing out the window at the night sky.

He'd been tucked into bed, dressed only in his boxers, in one of Woo Bin's guest bedrooms. To sleep off the alcohol, he supposed.

His head still throbbed from where he'd been knocked off his ass.

Or maybe his headache was from the alcohol, too.

"Why are you here?" he rasped, and her head twisted in his direction.

"Sunbae...You're awake."

"Quieter, quieter...please." He pressed a hand to his aching forehead.

"Sorry," she whispered, approaching the bed. "Do you want me to get you anything? Water? Or...I don't know. What do you normally do for hangovers?" Her face looked so open, so full of concern, that he almost forgot how tense she'd been during their meeting a few hours before.

That was Ga Eul, he thought. Sweet and forgiving to a fault.

"Wait until they go away." He smiled bitterly.

"Oh." She nodded like he'd imparted to her ancient wisdom. Maybe he had.

There was, of course, hangover soup. But this was hardly the time.

"What happened?" he asked. "Why are you here?"

"You fell and...you blacked out. Woo Bin Sunbae thought you needed—"

"But Ga Eul-yang," he said gently, "why are _you_ here?"

There was a long pause.

So long he thought she wouldn't answer.

"You called me your girlfriend," she replied. He would have thought that he heard wrong except that she repeated it. "When you were yelling, before you blacked out, you called me your girlfriend." She bit her lip. "Why do you think...you did that?"

He didn't know what to answer to that.

He didn't remember saying that.

Though he supposed he did think of her that way...but only in his head...only sometimes.

Only most of the time.

Only all of the time.

It had been a safe little game he'd played with himself—getting to date her without technically dating her.

Until his time had run out.

"It's okay," she said, breaking the silence. "You don't have to answer that. I'll let you rest."

Backing away, she bowed—fucking _bowed_ when a week ago he'd been jokingly unclipping her bra with his teeth—and walked over to the door.

She had her hand on the doorknob, twisting it, when he found his voice again and mumbled, "Wait."

Ga Eul turned her head but kept her hand on the knob.

Yi Jeong rubbed his forehead, remembering something.

"Did you really throw yourself over me last night?"

She hesitated a moment, then nodded.

"You kind of threw your whole body against the guy that was bothering me. But you got knocked off balance. He was going to kick you—"

"So you thought you would get in the way?" Yi Jeong demanded, ignoring how his head throbbed more violently as he raised his voice.

"I didn't want you hurting your hand again."

She didn't want him to...He swore, the stupidity of the girl never ceased to amaze him.

"Are you crazy?"

"If I am"—she stiffened—"I'm not the only crazy one here."

"You...You didn't get hurt, did you?" He checked her over but didn't see any bruises, although the black cardigan she'd thrown on over her dress would have covered any on her arms.

"I'm fine, Sunbae." Ga Eul shuffled her feet. "Is that all?"

"I thought I dreamed that."

Ga Eul shook her head, smiling.

"No."

"Don't ever do anything like that again," he warned. "There's not an idiot in the world who's worth you getting beat up over."

"I'll keep that in mind." She pursed her lips. "Um, is that everything?"

"No," Yi Jeong answered automatically, if only to keep her standing there. He couldn't say what he needed to say yet, though. Couldn't quite get the words out. Instead, he asked, "Why were you there, Ga Eul-yang?"

"Hmm?"

"Why were you still at the party? You're not a partier." He knew—he'd always known—she only came to parties because of him. Because he asked her to.

He asked her to, yet he wouldn't even dance with her in public. Not in front of anyone they knew. No wonder she'd wanted to end things.

"I guess...part of me was still hoping you'd come talk to me. I know that's stupid." She rushed out the last part, and as she spoke, she didn't look at him. At the bedcovers, maybe. Or the floor. But not at him. "I know you said you didn't want to do anything serious. I kept thinking that maybe you had started to change your mind. Because you started calling me. And sometimes we would eat. And you taught me how to play pool and Super Mario. And we would talk and stuff. Remember the other night you took me to that noodle place?" She smiled like it pained her to do so. "I thought we had fun. But then when you dropped me off, you said you were going to meet Woo Bin at a club that night. That's when I thought I ought to stop kidding myself. It's not like you were going to stop seeing other people."

Yi Jeong dragged himself up to a better sitting position, caught off guard by her last statement. The one about him seeing other people.

It was true that he had gone to a club with Woo Bin the other night. But he'd only stayed about half an hour before realizing it wasn't as much fun if he wasn't interested in picking up girls. And he wasn't interested. Oddly enough.

"You think I see other people?" He squinted at her in the dim moonlight illuminating the room along with a corner lamp she'd switched on.

"Don't you?" she asked like she really didn't want the answer.

"No. Not anymore," he answered truthfully.

"Oh." She looked down like she was embarrassed about something. Her suppositions, maybe.

"If you were so worried about me seeing other people, why didn't you ask if I was?" he asked. Maybe they should have talked about that. It just hadn't occurred to him, primarily because he knew Ga Eul wasn't the type to be seeing anyone other than him anyway.

"Because I didn't like to think about it." She looked back at him. "And you already told me not to expect anything from you, so why would I?" Ga Eul crossed her arms like she had in the cellar.

Well. That was fair.

But it made him feel sort of disgusted with himself. Because Ga Eul was exactly the sort of girl who _should_ expect things from him. If anyone was entitled to his full and undivided attention, it was her.

So the next thing that came out of his mouth didn't catch him totally off guard. And it didn't frighten him as much as he thought it would once he'd said it. Maybe it had only been a matter of time.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

"Huh? Um, a little."

"If you're cold, we can cuddle for a bit," he continued before he could lose his nerve.

"Uh, Sunbae." She laughed nervously. "I thought—"

"And then after we do that...maybe we can try the whole"—he cleared his throat—"relationship thing. Since I already, you know, called you my girlfriend in front of fifty people, including my best friend."

The statement appeared to floor her—it probably would have shocked him too if he'd been more awake. After another long pause, she said, "Sunbae, you don't have to do that. Just because you said something when you were drunk—"

"I wasn't that drunk," he interrupted. Though of course he had been plenty drunk, and she knew that, but she seemed to get his meaning because a smile slowly spread over her face.

"Will you hurry up and come to bed now so we can go to sleep? This headache is killing me." He patted the spot next to him, grimacing.

He could hear her draw in short, labored breaths.

After what seemed like an eternity, she whispered, "Okay."

Her cardigan had by that point slid down her shoulders, and she easily tugged the rest of it off. Then, to his surprise, she reached up and slipped the sleeves of her dress down, uncovering herself little by little, which she had never done without being coaxed, until nothing remained but a pair of pink cotton panties. With a tiny hot pink bow at the top of them. She had several pairs of those panties in assorted colors. Probably bought in cheap bulk packages from a department store.

Plain though they were, she made them look unbelievably enticing. She crawled into the bed, and he held up his arm to make room beside himself. She flung her leg over his waist and wrapped her body around his. Clinging to him like he'd grown accustomed to.

And part of him was glad, then, that they had done the whole 'benefits' thing even though the 'friends' part had backfired on him. At least she was already that comfortable with him. He couldn't complain about that.

"I always wanted to do this," she whispered.

"Cuddle with me?" he mumbled, stroking her arm. "Yeah, I know. Believe me, I know."

"No." She hugged him tighter. "Cuddle with you knowing you're mine."


	20. Chapter 20

As Yi Jeong came out of his third class of the day and strolled onto the open lawn of the Swedish university campus, his phone rang. A call from Chu Ga Eul in Korea.

"Hello? Ga Eul-yang?" Adjusting the tan satchel on his arm, he looked at the watch half-concealed by the cuff of his ivory dress shirt. It was three in the afternoon for him, but...wasn't it midnight in Korea?

"Hi, Sunbae. Um, I'm not interrupting you during class, am I?"

"I just got out, actually. I'm heading back to my apartment. What's up? Isn't it kind of late there?" He squinted into the sun.

"It is, but I've been doing homework." She sighed. "I don't think some of my teachers are aware I take other classes."

"So are you calling me because you finally want to take up Jun Pyo's offer and transfer to Shinhwa? You know, I can arrange for you to have private tutors."

"Sunbae, what sort of kindergarten teacher has private tutors?"

"The kind that dates one of the F4."

"Well, tell me when you meet one of those."

"Hey." Yi Jeong kicked at a piece of gravel on the sidewalk.

"I'm kidding. And I promise, I'll think about it. I'm only in my first year. Anyway, I was just calling to ask...will you sing me that song you sang me the other day?"

"Song?" His mind drew a blank.

"You know, the other night. Last week."

"Oh." Yi Jeong glanced around at the other students huddled in groups or hurrying to a lecture. "Right now?"

"Please. It'll help me go to sleep." She sounded like a little kid begging for a bedtime story. Probably looked like one, too, on the other side of the phone, wrapped in her frilly pink bedspread and hugging the stuffed giraffe that always appeared in her video chats. George the Giraffe. Or something like that. And he really didn't mind indulging her for a few seconds. However, it would take him fifteen minutes to walk back to his apartment. Instead of driving his new Audi, he'd opted to walk to and from campus recently with the weather being so pleasant.

"Uh...I'm kind of in the middle of the campus," he said, turning a corner and putting the art building to his back.

"Oh...It's okay. Don't worry about it," Ga Eul replied, but he could hear the disappointment in her voice. "So how's your day going?"

"I've been stuck in lectures for most of it, but other than that, it's okay, I guess. Better, now that I'm talking to you." The admission slipped past his lips before he knew it was there.

Ga Eul answered with a contented hum, and he imagined her sliding further beneath her covers, smiling with her phone pressed to her ear.

Reaching the edge of campus, Yi Jeong turned another corner and began the straight path to his apartment complex. Past the park and then the grocery store, bakery, and coffee shop he frequented. It really was convenient having everything so close.

Speaking of close…

Yi Jeong checked behind him. There was a couple walking leisurely a little ways from him, engrossed in something on the guy's phone. Other than that, not a person in sight as he navigated the park's perimeter. Unusual for this time of day.

Providential, Ga Eul might say.

"Want me to sing to you?" he mumbled into the phone.

"Really?" she squealed.

"Just don't get too excited and wake up your parents."

"Very funny."

Yi Jeong hummed the opening notes of her new favorite song 'I'm Going to Meet Her Now' under his breath, making sure he got the right key. He'd been told he had a nice voice by a few people—his mother, his elementary school chorus teacher, and some family friends—though he didn't sing in front of people often. But Ga Eul liked his voice so much that she'd started requesting him to sing to her before she went to sleep.

So what was he going to say? No?

Keeping his voice as low as he could without muffling the words, he sang the first verse and the chorus for her. A light breeze blew through the trees over his head, and he thought of how Ga Eul would like the park with its winding garden paths and large open sports fields.

He would put it on his list of places to go when she came to visit after her school year in Korea ended.

"That's all I'm singing," he announced at the end of the chorus. "I'm actually approaching businesses now. And I think"—he twisted his neck again—"the people behind me are gaining on me."

"I like your voice. It's very warm. It's like you're hugging me." Her voice lilted through the last sentence.

Yi Jeong bit back a chuckle as he neared his favorite coffee shop. He'd heard his voice called a lot of things—mostly smooth or sexy or refined—but a hug was a first.

"That is a very Ga Eul-yang thing to say. But thank you."

"What do you mean?" He could hear the confusion in Ga Eul's voice. "What are 'Ga Eul-yang things'?"

Of course she would ask that.

And he didn't know how to describe what he meant by that without sounding a bit condescending. What he meant was he associated her with anything dreamy or romantic. With being honest to a fault or trusting beyond reason. Any heart-on-the-sleeve-wearing nonsense. Anything silly or fanciful or wistful. Like believing in magic or love.

Or _being_ anything that resembled magic. Or love.

"Warm. Like a hug," he answered. "All right, I sang for you. Now you can go to sleep."

"What?"

Crossing the crosswalk in front of his apartment building, he repeated, "Go to sleep."

"But...I miss you."

'I miss you too,' Yi Jeong thought.

"I'll send you a voice recording," he said. "Then you can play it whenever you want."

"That's not the same thing."

"Fine. I'll send you myself. I'll just blow off all my projects this week and get on a plane right now."

Another sigh.

Yi Jeong smiled as she protested, "No, no. Don't do that. You're supposed to be becoming the next Da Vinci or whatever."

"Da Vinci was a painter, but I take your point."

Rummaging through his satchel, he pulled out his key card to enter the building.

When he spoke again, his voice echoed through the lobby, and his black and brown dress shoes squeaked as he crossed the newly waxed wood floor.

"I'm about to take the elevator. I might lose you," he said, stopping in front of said elevator and punching the up button.

"Okay."

There was a pause as the elevator doors opened and he boarded, selected the top floor, and rode the few stories up.

The call didn't drop this time. He could hear Ga Eul's shallow breathing on the other end.

Stepping out of the shiny silver metal doors, he saw the sprawling buildings of his university out of the hall window beside the elevator.

"Ga Eul-yang? You still there?"

"Yes. I just turned out my lights. I don't think I can keep my eyes open anymore." She yawned.

"Go to sleep," he instructed her a third time.

"Okay. Good night, Sunbae," Ga Eul said softly.

Pausing at his apartment door, Yi Jeong glanced out of the hall window at the mid-day sun and imagined it was the moon instead, looming large over Ga Eul's bedroom.

"Good night," he replied.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an addendum to Chapter 10 of this fic, written in Yi Jeong's mother's POV. Someone had requested a scene where Ga Eul meets Yi Jeong's mother when I first wrote Chapter 10. This probably isn't quite what you had in mind, but I wanted to write it as a stream of consciousness so I could easily cover a larger period of time. Hope you enjoy!

The girl is not what Chung Ae expects to see when she wakes up in the hospital room—a small, unassumingly pretty commoner curled up next to her younger son Yi Jeong. He's reading; she's dozed off, her head on his shoulder. Before she can form another coherent thought, Yi Jeong's gaze lifts from his book to her; he takes in her conscious state, and immediately his eyes widen. His voice cracks over the word 'Omma.'

Ga Eul. Autumn.

His hand lingers protectively on her waist when he introduces her.

She's someone special to him; that much Chung Ae can tell in her drugged state.

And Yi Jeong must be someone special to her because Ga Eul keeps coming back to visit during Chung Ae's hospital stay and even after she's been transferred home but kept under constant watch. Sometimes Ga Eul comes with Yi Jeong, sometimes without. She tells Chung Ae that she's a kindergarten teacher at Shinhwa. That she's best friends with Jun Pyo's wife. That she's an amateur potter. That she loves her son more than anything.

Day by day, she makes Chung Ae smile a little, then laugh a little, as she recounts the antics of her kindergarten class or her frustrations when her tentative creations fall apart on the potter's wheel.

She has a softness to her, a curiosity about life, that Chung Ae once had, and it awakens a part of her that she thought was long dead. The part of her that would stop in wonder to inspect a pretty flower or sing loudly at a karaoke bar. It occurs to Chung Ae that she has made herself old before her time with her self-pitying, with her refusal to move on from her crushed dreams of marital happiness, and she promises to do better.

For once, she does do better. She is better. She rebuilds her relationship with her son, little by little. She enjoys her shopping trips and afternoon coffee with the daughter she never had. When the time comes for Yi Jeong and Ga Eul to plan out their wedding, Chung Ae applies herself to the task with more energy and spirit than she has applied to anything in a long time.

On the day of the wedding, she makes a speech. She does not look at Hyun Sub. She does not think about her own wedding day. She looks only at the radiant couple at the center of the reception hall, confident that they will not make the same mistakes her and her husband made. Tears gather in her eyes before she can even begin speaking.

She had not known when she opened her eyes that day that instead of losing her life, she would be starting it anew.

The girl sitting beside her son is not what she thought she needed; then again, Ga Eul wasn't what Yi Jeong thought he needed either.

How they had both been proven wrong.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the lovely ms. margie for the camping trip prompt. It was meant to be smut, but it turned into this comical/fluffy thing... Although Jan Di and Jun Pyo are in this, it is a very Ga Eul/Yi Jeong-centric piece, so don't expect much Jan Di/Jun Pyo.
> 
> There is a companion smut piece to this on Good Girl (Chapter 25 - "Survival Instincts"). There is no smut, however, in this one-shot.

"Of all the romantic couple trips, Jun Pyo had to pick camping," Yi Jeong grumbled. "Actual camping. In the middle of the wilderness. With sleeping bags and bugs and tents and bugs and survival food, and did I mention bugs?" He slapped at a mosquito on his arm. Missed. The offending insect—one of a thousand—buzzed over to Ga Eul, and she swatted it away. Yi Jeong swiped at the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand and bent over the finicky tent he'd been trying to assemble for the past twenty minutes because _no, no, Ga Eul-yang, I've got this_...

Ga Eul would have laughed at her boyfriend's complaints—or teased him for being such a pampered chaebol—but she knew better than to poke at him when he'd worked himself up into such an annoyed state. Honestly, she was surprised he hadn't already conjured a few members of his staff and made _them_ set everything up. Despite how totally badass he could be sometimes, he expected a certain comfort level wherever they vacationed. She supposed that came with never having to lift a finger if he didn't want to.

"At least Jun Pyo Sunbae convinced Jan Di to stay in his tent," Ga Eul soothed him from where she sat on the ground, cross legged, studying his progress. She'd had to bite her lip a few times to stop herself from giving him unwelcome instructions. "Otherwise, I would be with Jan Di, and you'd be stuck listening to Jun Pyo's snoring for the next two days."

Yi Jeong frowned. He tugged down the zipper on his heavy black Columbia coat, probably hot from exertion despite the chilly fall air. Ga Eul, in her soft pink cotton jacket, was more than a little cold from sitting still.

"How do you know he snores?" Yi Jeong asked.

"Jan Di told me."

At that, Yi Jeong snickered. Deciding he wasn't in a complete _mood_ , she added, "You snore too."

"I do not!" Yi Jeong glared at her.

"Yes, you do. Don't look so horrified. It's not all the time. I think I've heard you once or twice when you were really tired." Yi Jeong only looked more put out, so she continued, "Of course, I don't sleep with you _every_ night, so I couldn't say for sure."

"I do _not_ snore." He picked up a tent stake and drove it into the ground with a rock. This time at a more appropriate angle, she noted. "You were probably listening to yourself."

"Well, that's a flattering thing to say to your girlfriend."

"Oh, I see. It's okay for you to say that to me but not for me to say that to you. Where's the equality of the sexes?"

"Shhhh! They're coming back. I think they're having an argument." Ga Eul poked her head around Yi Jeong as Jan Di and Jun Pyo approached, carrying firewood. Jun Pyo had insisted on doing everything the 'true camping way.'

"Of course they're having an argument. They've been left alone for ten minutes," Yi Jeong muttered. "How do you get this damn thing to stay?!" He cursed as the tent stubbornly flopped over for the third time.

"Here, give me that." Getting up, Ga Eul shoved him over and went to work on the tent herself. "You've never been camping before, have you?"

"Of course I have. The F4 stayed in a cabin up in—what's so funny?"

"See. There's your problem. You just said the word 'cabin.'"

"It was in the middle of nowhere." He tapped her arm. "We went hiking."

"So? Let me guess. Did it have a heating system? Or a fireplace?"

"Both, actually," Yi Jeong stated proudly. "There was also a complimentary stock of alcohol in the wine cellar—"

"In the wine cellar?!" Ga Eul giggled, trying to hold down the volume of her laughter.

"It was classy." Yi Jeong gave her a pointed look.

"Whatever it was, it was _not_ camping," Ga Eul replied. She made a final adjustment to the tent, and it sat up perfectly.

"Whatever. The only reason I agreed to come here was so I could see you in those yoga pants." His eyes roamed over her butt, which was, in fact, covered in mint green yoga pants. "But now I've seen it, so I think we can go." He reached for her arm, but she pulled it back.

"Uh-uh. I'm not going anywhere now." She smirked up at him. "This weekend should be interesting."

"But what happened to my idea for the weekend?" He lowered his voice, dropped his mouth towards her ear. "Paris, remember? A romantic sunset dinner on the Seine?"

"I think I'd rather watch the two of you"—she gestured to Jun Pyo, who was rambling to a closed tent flap—"catch us a romantic dinner in that lake over there before sunset." She nodded her head to the right.

"Fine. You want fish? Where's the fishing poles? I'm going to come back with so much fish, we couldn't possibly eat it all in the next two days."

"Okay." Ga Eul shrugged. Pointing to an elongated bag lying near the tent, she said, "The fishing poles are in there. Why don't you enlist Jun Pyo Sunbae? He looks put out...literally."

"Not that I need help, but fine." Stepping around her, Yi Jeong slung the bag over his shoulder. Calling out to Jun Pyo, he strode confidently toward the lake, which wasn't far from their campsite. Even still, she hoped the two of them didn't lose their way.

Once Yi Jeong and Jun Pyo had disappeared, Jan Di emerged from her tent—now Ga Eul could see that she must have closed it up in order to change clothes—and walked over to where Ga Eul sat on the ground, rummaging through her backpack for bug spray.

"I need you to settle an argument between me and Jun Pyo," Jan Di announced, plopping down beside her.

"Okay."

"Is it really camping if you sleep in a cabin?"

* * *

" _This._..is nature," Jun Pyo announced in a booming voice, sweeping his arm in a grand gesture at the forest greenery and the crystalline blue lake in front of them.

"Your friend doesn't think he owns the forest, too, does he?" Ga Eul whispered to Yi Jeong, who was baiting another worm on his hook. Something he did know how to do without her help, he'd reminded her when she and Jan Di emerged from the campsite to see how the two guys were faring.

"Probably," Yi Jeong replied. "If you want to be technical, he does own a good portion of land that has forest on it."

"Well, he doesn't own a national park," Ga Eul replied, crossing her arms.

Yi Jeong chuckled and cast his line in the water. He'd caught two medium-sized fish so far. Jun Pyo had caught a larger one, but in his display of one-upping Yi Jeong, he had dropped it too close to the edge of the water, and it had quickly wriggled away, still alive, slapping Jun Pyo in the face as he tried to recapture it before it swam off.

The girls hadn't been there to witness the spectacle, but Yi Jeong had a good laugh recounting the moment to them. Jun Pyo had gottten so mad at Yi Jeong's embellishments that he'd huffed off to the opposite end of the shore, dragging Jan Di behind him. Currently, Ga Eul and Yi Jeong were watching them fight over the fishing rod.

"Is Jan Di good at fishing?" Yi Jeong asked.

"Of course. We grew up fishing together all the time with our families. She usually catches more than me."

"So your families were close, not just the two of you?"

"Well, I mean, they met each other because we were best friends, and over time we started going to each others' houses and taking vacations together and whatnot. I didn't have any siblings, so Jan Di was like a sister to me. And Kang San's like my younger brother." She smiled fondly, gazing into the shallow water at the lake's edge.

"No wonder Jan Di's parents sent you with her when we went to New Caledonia," he commented.

"Yes. We've always looked out for each other."

"Does that mean you're going to step in over there?"

The fight over the fishing rod had turned into an all-out brawl, and now Jan Di was kicking Jun Pyo in the shins, both of their hands gripping the rod tightly.

"Nope."

"They're going to break it in a minute." Yi Jeong reeled his line in and recast it further out.

"Then I guess you're really going to have to catch all those fish."

"No way. Let's run off and have our own private dinner...Yep. There it goes."

"Did they break the rod? It looks fine."

"I think they snapped the line."

"Yah! Look what you did!" Jan Di's voice carried over to them on a stiff, cold breeze.

Jun Pyo yelled back something unintelligible.

"It's getting colder out here." Ga Eul pulled her pink jacket tighter around herself.

"You want my jacket? It's thicker than yours."

"No, it's okay." She shook her head. "You need it."

"What about we trade?" He slipped one arm out of his black coat while keeping one hand on the fishing rod. "Look, I already warmed it up for you." He took his coat the rest of the way off and held it out to her by the collar.

"Oh, well. If you did that, I can't resist." Ga Eul removed her jacket and handed it to him. He made a big show of trying to squeeze into it. But he couldn't quite get it over his shoulders. She laughed at the trouble he was having.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'll just wear it over my arms. See?"

"Whatever you say, Sunbae."

"You want to try?" He held out the fishing rod to her.

Ga Eul let out an exaggerated sigh.

"What should I do? I don't want to show you up."

"Show me—hey, this is why I say commoners won't make it. You're supposed to act all coy, like you've never done this before. That's how you get guys."

Ga Eul pursed her lips.

"You say that like you want me to date other people."

"I'm just saying, you...like the other day, you snatched that pool stick right out of my hand, right when I was offering to—"

"But I already know how to play pool."

"Still, don't you think you should have taken your boyfriend up on his generous offer for private lessons?"

"I don't think it would have done me much good," she replied. "You lost, remember?"

"That's not the point."

Ga Eul thought back on that afternoon. Come to think of it, he had looked rather put out, but she'd thought it was simply because she was winning. But maybe he had been using the game as an excuse to...Wow, she was dense.

Still, if he'd wanted to put his arms around her, he could have just done it. Though she supposed that was too easy for a seasoned player such as himself.

"I'm sorry, Sunbae. Did I ruin your plan to seduce me? Like with the sunscreen?" She grinned.

Yi Jeong made no comment, instead reeling his line in and casting it back out with intensity.

Oh. So he wanted to ignore her now.

"Gosh," she lamented, "I'm so cold still. Wouldn't it be nice if I had something to warm me up?" She blew into her hands and rubbed them together. "Like, I don't know, a warm body." Stuffing her hands in Yi Jeong's coat pockets, she rocked on her heels. "I might die of hypothermia if I stay out here long enough."

A beat.

Yi Jeong shifted in the corner of her vision.

After a moment, he offered her the fishing rod.

"Here, hold this. I have to make sure my girlfriend doesn't freeze to death." She could practically _hear_ him rolling his eyes. But she smiled as his arms curled around her, and his lips brushed her cheek.

"Yi Jeong! How do you expect to catch any fish when you're fooling around over here?"

"Perfect timing, as always," Yi Jeong muttered as he let go of Ga Eul and turned to face Jun Pyo, who had returned with Jan Di.

"Jun Pyo, let's make a bet."

"What?"

"I bet Ga Eul can catch more fish than you. Shall we wager, say, fifty million won?"

"Yi Jeong Sunbae!" Ga Eul exclaimed.

"Ah, that's too low, right?" Yi Jeong looked contemplative. "One hundred million won."

"Yah!" Jan Di shrieked, looking helplessly from Yi Jeong to Jun Pyo. "You can't just throw money like that around on a...a...stupid fishing competition!"

"Deal," Jun Pyo replied.

"Deal?!" Jan Di slapped his arm. "You dummy. Here, let me have that. I can catch more fish than her!"

"Hey, let go." He pulled the fishing rod out of her reach. "The bet was for me against Ga Eul. This is easy money.'

"Easy money, my ass," Yi Jeong mumbled as he put his arms around Ga Eul again and slipped his hands in the pockets of his own coat.

"Hey, you two! No more touching!"

"What?" Ga Eul glanced at an overeager Jun Pyo.

"Yi Jeong, keep your hands where I can see them! Ga Eul doesn't get any help from you!"

Extricating himself from Ga Eul once again, Yi Jeong moved a few feet to the left and complained, "I don't know who he thinks he is, telling me to keep my hands off of my own girlfriend."

"This is all your fault. You and your hundred _million_ won fishing bets." Ga Eul rolled her eyes.

Yi Jeong walked around to stand on the opposite side of Ga Eul, so that she stood between him and Jun Pyo. Reaching out, he slowly dragged his thumb over the hem of the coat she wore.

"I said no touching!"

* * *

"Ga Eul-yang...Ga Eul-yang...Ga Eul-yang."

"Hmm—what?" Rolling over, Ga Eul rubbed her eyes sleepily. Yi Jeong hovered over her, a hulking silhouette in the dark, and she jolted up before realizing it was only him.

Settling back into her pillow, Ga Eul asked, "What is it? You couldn't get to sleep?"

"Uh, no. I think we should go...look at the stars."

"What?" She squinted at him, unsure what time it was but certain it was the middle of the night.

"Come on, come on. It's romantic. Let's go." He pulled her up by her arm, ignoring her half-awake protests, and dragged her out of the tent.

They ended up by the lake, and while Yi Jeong was right—the stars were plentiful and brilliant against the black sky—he didn't seem terribly interested in them. After a few minutes of shuffling his feet, he announced, "I'll be right back. Since we're out here, I'm just going to, um, well...I've gotta take a piss."

He disappeared into a cluster of trees, leaving Ga Eul alone by the dark waters, surrounded by the constant trill of crickets. A branch snapped behind her, and her breath caught in her throat. Then she realized it had come from the direction Yi Jeong had gone, and she considered it was probably just him. Still, she hoped he returned soon. The darkness wrapped around everything in sight, and an eerie sensation grew in the pit of her stomach. She much preferred nature in the daytime.

A thought dawned on her then.

When Yi Jeong resurfaced a moment later, mumbling something about poisonous plants, she chided, "Yi Jeong Sunbae. Be honest. You were scared to come out here by yourself." She poked at his chest. "That's why you woke up me up from a perfectly good dream."

She couldn't see his face well in the faint moonlight, but she knew he wore an expression of cool denial.

"No, that's not it." He cupped his hands and blew air into them. Rubbed them together. "Come on, let's go back. It's cold out here."

"Scaredy-cat," Ga Eul accused as he pressed a palm to her back and urged her forward.

"You're the one jumping at every sound. I saw you."

"Hmph. At least I can be left alone."

"Oh? Should I leave you here then?"

"You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I?"

"It's going to be cold in that tent without me."

"No. I'm just going to get the sleeping bag and the blankets all to myself."

"I'm going to tell Jan Di you kicked me out. Jan Di—"

Yi Jeong slapped a hand over her mouth before she could finish her plea to the dark tent across from theirs. She giggled into his hand.

"Shhhh. You're going to wake up dumb and dumber."

She elbowed him in the ribs, and he dropped his hand.

"Are you calling my best friend dumb?" she demanded, whispering.

"No. She's the dumber one for being with him...Ow!"


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a drabble that is actually a prequel (written in YJ's POV) to Chapter 3 of this fic.

Yi Jeong hadn't been looking for it. He hadn't been looking for _anything_ of hers.

In fact, he'd been quietly ridding his apartment and his studio of every trace of her. Redecorating and moving furniture around. That was how he'd come across it. It was the furniture that did him in. Or, more specifically, a chest of drawers.

He'd decided to reorganize his room—reorient the bed so that it was horizontally facing the wall instead of diagonally facing the window. So he wouldn't have to remember waking up next to her and watching the sun rise over Seoul, illuminating the tops of the buildings below his building.

Below theirs.

He was moving the chest of drawers in his bedroom, and when he had maneuvered the heavy object out of its corner, he spotted them lying on the carpet. Dusty from having been hidden behind the drawers for at least a few weeks. And bright pink.

A pair of Ga Eul's cotton underwear.

The last night they'd spent together nearly a month ago came flooding back.

They hadn't said much, really.

When they'd started dating, Yi Jeong had made it very clear that they would in all likelihood have to split up once Yi Jeong's marriage meetings started. But of course Ga Eul, with her ever-present hope, hadn't seen that for the ultimatum that it was. So there had been some yelling, then pleading, then general hysteria in the weeks leading up to their breakup. But on what they—rather, he—had designated as their last night together, she had come to some semblance of acceptance that they couldn't be together long-term.

So they hadn't said anything much, just spent the entire night cuddling and crying. Her sniffling out loud, and him shedding silent tears, wiping them from the corners of his eyes when she wasn't looking. When she had her head buried in his lap like she might stay that way until forcibly removed.

At the time, he'd allowed her to be as emotional as she needed to be, but he'd been numb himself, not wanting to believe what he'd always known would happen was actually happening and at the same time wanting the whole damned painful goodbye to be over with so he could get used to being miserable and alone.

Well, until he got married, in which case he would still be miserable and alone, just with company.

He'd been doing fairly well getting comfortable with the miserable part for the past few weeks. Perhaps because he'd been through that bit before he'd met Ga Eul.

He was having more trouble with being alone.

When he was alone—which he was a lot of the time, due to his profession—he had to listen to himself think. And when he thought about anything at all, his thoughts always drifted back to her.

Now he couldn't breathe as he knelt over and picked up her panties. He twisted the smooth fabric in his fingers, feeling almost dirty for touching them. For having ever touched them.

What kind of sick bastard was he? Telling the most beautiful, selfless girl he'd ever met that he could date her, but only if he could break up with her later. And then giving her a fucking calendar date so she could mark down the days until he disappeared from her life.

And she'd given him everything. Like she'd always expected him to be by her side. No matter what he'd said.

Girls were such idiots.

Yeah, that was what he would like blame it on.

Unfortunately, he knew better.

She hadn't been an idiot when she'd agreed to date him. Or when she'd told him, over and over, how much she loved him. Or when she'd let him be the first to take off her clothes and make love to her body. Or when she'd told him she loved him, tenderly and without regret, as she was leaving his apartment for the last time.

She'd known exactly what she was doing. It had been a deliberate miscalculation. A deliberate loss. A deliberate gift she'd never expected to get back. A deposit without a return.

And he'd been a deliberate jerk.

A blind, selfish jerk the whole time.

Yi Jeong sank down onto his bed.

A wet spot appeared on her underwear, but it took him a moment to realize he was crying.

The whole terrible weight of what she'd done for him, and what he hadn't done for her, pressed in upon him.

He was crying.

Shit.

He could feel himself about to do something incredibly idiotic.

Either that, or incredibly brave.

Incredibly brave, Ga Eul would say.

Incredibly idiotic, he would say.

But what could he do for the girl who had given him everything other than give up everything for her?


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We don't see this in the drama, but I think Yi Jeong would be good at other types of artwork besides pottery.

Yi Jeong usually enjoyed solitude while he worked on his art, but he'd slowly grown accustomed to Ga Eul's continuous presence in his workshop.

Today, they sat across from each other at one of the tables. Yi Jeong was sketching out a new design, and Ga Eul was making notes for a test in one of her education classes. Every so often he'd hear the rustle of paper as she flipped through her textbook or rearranged the flash cards she'd been so dutifully writing out and color coding.

Ga Eul color coded everything—her planner, her notes, the sections in her notebooks, the sticky tabs she used to mark her textbooks.

Such information he'd gleaned from a year's worth of dating.

From staring at her staring at her coursework.

Secretly staring, of course.

"Sunbae, do you draw people?" she asked suddenly, glancing up.

Yi Jeong dropped his gaze back to his sketchpad.

"Not usually, no. I mean, I can, but...that's not really my specialty." He gestured around the room.

"Oh. Right." Ga Eul nodded.

She stayed silent another moment, then...

"Do you think...you could draw me?"

"You?" He glanced back up at her.

"Um, never mind. That's not important." Ga Eul's face reddened, and she wouldn't meet his eyes, her expression adorably flustered.

Her request interested him, though, not only because she was embarrassed by it but because he actually _had_ drawn her—privately, of course, in a sketchpad he'd never intended to see the light of day.

But of course now he had to tease her about it; what fun would it be simply handing over one of his deepest secrets?

"Most people these days take photos or videos, but if you're into that sort of thing, I'm willing to try it."

"What?"

Ga Eul's head popped up, her face a mask of confusion.

"Where would you like to be drawn? In there?" He gestured to the door on the opposite wall that led to a small bedroom. "My bedroom at home? _Your_ bedroom?"

"W-w-what are you talking about?"

Yi Jeong smiled, trusting his insinuation to dawn on Ga Eul soon enough.

He didn't have to wait long before her eyes widened and she lashed out at his arm.

"I don't want _that_ kind of drawing!"

He laughed.

"Sorry. That's the only kind I'm interested in doing."

"Why you..." She made as if to hit him again and he leaned back, smirking at her irritation.

"What? I'm just telling you up front what type of product you should expect. Be glad I'm an honest artist."

Turning her attention back to her homework, Ga Eul huffed. For a few moments, he watched her shuffle her flash cards in an attempt to ignore him, then shook his head and bore down over his sketch again.

A moment later he felt the pressure of her thumb apply something sticky to his forehead.

One of those damn sticky tabs, he realized, ripping off the offending red sticker.

"What does this do?" he asked.

"I'm marking you," she said, bent over her work again. "Useless information."

"Meaning what?"

"I don't think you can really draw me." She snatched the sticky tab out of his hand with a 'tch.'

* * *

_A few days later..._

"What is this?"

"You said you wanted me to draw you."

"But Sunbae, why do I look so angry? If I wanted a caricature—"

"Because that's the exact expression you had when I offered to draw you as a classic and timeless piece of art."

"You offered to draw me _naked_."

"That is one of the most basic skills of an artist's education. Reproducing a correctly proportioned human body…Hey! What are you writing on that for?"

"One of the most basic skills of a teacher's education, Sunbae. Handing out grades."

"There's nothing but a circle here. You forgot the numbers!"

* * *

_A few more days later..._

"This isn't me."

"It is you. It's animé you. Sorry, I had to use Shinhwa's uniform as a reference. I've never seen your high school uniform."

"Yi Jeong, I...am _not_ that big...in certain areas."

"If you don't like it, I'll take it back. I'm certain I can find a use for—"

"I'll keep it!...Idiot."

* * *

_Yet another few days later..._

"I think I've got it right this time...What?...What's with that look? I assure you, this time I drew everything to scale. Just in case you thought my memory was faulty."

"So Yi Jeong! I...You...What am I supposed to do with this?!"

"You said you didn't want to be naked. You're not naked."

"I'm not _clothed_ either."

"Details, Ga Eul-yang. Details."

* * *

_Later still..._

"No."

"No what?"

"I'm not looking at _that_."

"Why not? It's a harmless piece of paper."

"I don't care about the paper. It's _you_ I don't trust."

"Come on. Take it. I promise you'll like this one."

Ga Eul eyed him warily.

"If you don't like this one, I'll...Well, if you don't like this one, I don't know what else I can do, honestly."

Ga Eul's expression slowly shifted from downright mistrusting to somewhat curious. She gingerly accepted the piece of paper from his hand and flipped it over.

And there it was. A rare human portrait by acclaimed potter So Yi Jeong. The closest thing to a diary entry he could possibly show her. It was a drawing, two years old or so, of her on the edge of a cliff, leaning against a sports car with the foaming ocean waves crashing behind her. He'd drawn her in profile. Just the side of her face as she looked toward the ocean. Toward the infinite possibilities for life and happiness only she could see. Close enough for him to touch but far away at the same time.

"I was thinking about calling it 'Happy Ending.' Probably a stupid name," he muttered, stupidly.

Ga Eul fell silent for an excruciating moment.

He could hear her breathing and nothing else.

Finally, she extended the paper back to him.

"You really don't like it?"

She smiled. A gentle, adoring smile.

"No, I want you to sign it, silly."

Oh.

Glancing down at the page, he realized he hadn't signed it. Probably because, again, he'd never intended to show it to anyone.

Taking the paper, Yi Jeong regained his composure and smirked.

He walked over to the long counter in his studio and grabbed a pen.

"If you like it that much, maybe you should draw me as compensation," he suggested.

"Mmm, I have a better idea, actually."

"Oh?" He scrawled his artist's signature in the bottom right corner, then looked up at her.

Ga Eul nodded, her smile growing wider.

"Sunbae, do you want to see my actual high school uniform? It still fits, but it's a little tight."

She pursed her lips impishly.

A full-color image of Ga Eul wearing a vague school uniform flitted through Yi Jeong's head, and his throat went dry.

"Well, I did always draw better with a model."


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst/Comfort/Fluff b/c idk...feelings...

" _If brokenness is a form of art / I must be a poster child prodigy /_

_Thread by thread I come apart...I'm only honest when it rains /_

_An open book, with a torn out page / And my inks run out /_

_I wanna love you but I don't know how."_

_\- Sleeping At Last, "Neptune"_

In truth, Ga Eul's used to disappointment.

Most people probably peg her as an optimist, and they're correct, but only to a point.

Because she's a realist, as well.

After what happened with Su Pyo, and later with Yi Jeong's initial reaction to her asking for a real date, she's grown tougher skin.

So after an awful fight during their Thursday night date, she's not terribly surprised when Yi Jeong doesn't respond to any of her messages over the weekend.

Disappointed, maybe. Irritated. But not shocked.

When she goes by his studio after work on Sunday, the lights are off. She doesn't see his car around.

On Monday morning, he doesn't pick her up to take her to her college, as he normally does.

Still, she tells herself to be patient—that probably she crossed a line she shouldn't have crossed—but the truth is, she's been waiting for something like this to happen. For the past few wonderful months to blow up in her face.

Because Ga Eul knows Yi Jeong. How sweet and charming and loyal he can be. And also how cowardly and stubborn and insufferable.

She just doesn't know which side of him will win out in the end.

Still, his radio silence hits like a slap in the face. Months of getting him to open up to her, even a little bit, and for what? So he could shut himself behind his impenetrable walls again the minute something she said struck a nerve.

Granted, the subject was his mother, so it probably struck several nerves.

Still, she wishes they could talk about it without him shutting her down and shoving her away. Shoving her back into a neat little box with the parts of his life he wants her to see.

She'd seen it coming, but she calls him anyway.

Twelve times she calls him, finally leaving him a voicemail with a sob in her throat she can't quite remove when she speaks. Well, what did she expect, calling him on the first day of her period?

Everything she says is slurred; she gets halfway through the voicemail before she starts crying in earnest. Which is something she promised herself she wouldn't do.

Isn't crying the very thing _he_ taught her not to do?

Whatever.

She's too exhausted and nauseous and drunk on her own tears to care.

It's one in the morning on Tuesday, and she's not even sure what she's saying. Something pathetic probably. _Sorry_ and _please_ and _miss you_.

* * *

Twelve missed calls.

All of them from Ga Eul.

It's the first thing Yi Jeong sees when he wakes up on Tuesday morning and fumbles for the phone he left charging, on airplane mode, on his nightstand. His screensaver is a picture of them at a charity auction hosted by Shinhwa. So if it isn't unpleasant enough that he was dreaming about her at approximately the same time she was leaving him a hysterical voicemail, he has to see her adoring face grinning at a more amicable version of himself after he listens to the message.

Chu Ga Eul. His achilles' heel if he's ever had one.

His annoying little conscience, though this time he deserves having her nag at him more than he wants to think about.

Because even though most of the voicemail is _her_ apologizing, she really doesn't have anything to apologize for.

After a breakdown on his father's birthday, his mother had gone back to the hospital, and Yi Jeong had settled into an arguably self-destructive frame of mind for several weeks. This had culminated in an argument between himself and Ga Eul who pushed all the wrong buttons after he got drunk on their date last Thursday.

While she probably should have exercised a tad more tact in addressing the situation, he can't blame her for being upset given that he'd already been avoiding dates with her under the pretext of being busy with his art. Besides that, what he'd said to her at the end of the argument just to make her leave was unforgivable. And it had probably stung worse because it was the type of comment she might expect from him.

Except that she trusted him for some inexplicable reason.

And he'd still said it.

" _This is why good girls are so annoying. You want to save me so you can feel like you're doing some good in the world. Ga Eul-yang, am I making you feel important?"_

" _That's not it. I want you to be okay because I care about you."_

" _You care about me because I give you a sense of purpose. How irritating it must be for you. I'm this broken thing that breaks again and again no matter how many times you fix it."_

" _S-sunbae, that's not—"_

" _Forget it. Just leave me alone."_

" _But_ _Yi Jeong—"_

" _I said leave me alone! No one wants to be coddled all the time!"_

That last sentence she seems to have interpreted as him wanting to break up with her.

Fuck.

* * *

Ga Eul has a headache.

Her words from the previous evening stick, hollow, in the back of her throat while she waits for the bus.

After that outburst, perhaps it's best if Yi Jeong doesn't return.

He'll probably tell her she's too clingy or that he needs space.

The F4 never went for the girls who offered them cake, but the worst of them fell for a girl who'd kicked him in the face.

And maybe Yi Jeong fell for the version of her that doused him in cold water, but the wounded puppy version of her that left him that message isn't his style.

At least, that's what she imagines him thinking.

She can see his face in her mind's eye, imploring her not to cry.

In any case, it's not like she did anything wrong by trying to take care of him. If he couldn't appreciate that, then maybe it was best that they stay apart, as much as she would miss her happier moments with him.

But gosh, did she have to make her last words to him sound so pitiful? Is that how she wants him to remember her? Couldn't she maintain some dignity? Or will she forever be known as the girl who ran to him to be comforted whenever some jerk of a guy hurt her feelings—even if said jerk was _him_?

The bus arrives, and Ga Eul reluctantly pulls herself to a standing position. She heaves her book bag over her shoulder, and takes her place in line. But the moment she puts one foot on the bus, a hand clamps around her wrist, a familiar silver ring on one finger. When she looks up, Yi Jeong is standing there.

Just standing there, like he never left.

"Yi Jeong Sunbae," she mumbles, shocked.

In true F4 style, he pulls her from the line and drags her by the wrist over to his red Cadillac, which has suddenly appeared parked near the bus lane.

She follows him numbly—partly out of surprise, partly because she's used to following him that way. The blind leading the blind and whatnot.

He opens the back door to his Cadillac and ushers her inside. As soon as he sits down beside her, he shuts them in.

* * *

Now that they are sitting side by side, the awkwardness settles in. Yi Jeong doesn't know what is making him more nervous—Ga Eul's silence or what he imagines she'll say when she starts talking.

"I'm...I'm sorry I didn't pick you up yesterday," he begins. "I should have called."

"Yes, that would have been nice," she agrees, quietly, without looking at him.

 _Nice_.

The word punctures him. He hasn't been _nice_ to her for the past month.

Her fingers twitch, fumbling with the strap of her book bag, which she has deposited on the floorboard between her legs.

Today she's wearing a simple white collared button-up with a black and white plaid skirt, knee high black socks, and black heels. No jewelry except for the white gold butterfly pendant around her neck—a birthday present from him. After a moment, she lets go of her book bag and fiddles with the necklace instead.

"And I'm sorry for what I said," he adds. "I didn't mean I want to break up with you. I just needed to be by myself for a while."

A tear rolls down her cheek. She nods but says nothing. She still doesn't look at him.

"Also, I just got your message this morning. I didn't...I was asleep when you called...I'm sorry I didn't pick up...and that I made you cry."

She nods again. Sniffles. Knowing her, she's barely holding back a whirlwind of emotion.

He hates watching her cry.

He reaches out, tentatively, and brushes a wisp of hair out of her face.

She shuffles out of reach until she's pressed up against the door, her posture that of an upset child—closed off and hunched over so that she appears even smaller than she actually is.

Still, she doesn't get out of the car.

She doesn't speak either.

"Ga Eul-yang, say something," he coaxes. "I mean, yell at me or something. I'm serious."

Ga Eul sniffs. Wipes her nose on her shirt sleeve.

"You can't just do that, Sunbae," she answers quietly.

"Do what?"

"Disappear like that." Her voice wavers. "I don't care if you want to be alone for a while, but why can't you just tell me that? I thought you really didn't want to date me anymore because you'd been avoiding me so much." She shook her head. "I can't read your mind, Sunbae."

"I know, I know," he admits, feverishly trying to assuage her irritation. "I screwed up. I'm sorry."

"Don't tell me you're sorry. Just _please_ don't do that again. I don't want to be in a relationship with someone who ignores me like that. It reminds me of..." She breaks off, but after a second he thinks he can finish her sentence. "Sorry," she mumbles. "I don't mean to compare you. I just meant..." She stops again and frowns, as though she can't quite latch on to her tumbling thoughts. "Do I really bother you that much?"

"Of course not. I was just...a bit crazy the other night...But hey." He moves closer to her and takes the hand that was toying with her necklace in both of his. "It's not your fault I'm an idiot. Okay?"

Ga Eul breathes heavily and stares out the window.

"You can punch me if you want. I haven't been working out as much, so it'll probably hurt a lot."

For some reason, that statement causes Ga Eul to finally unleash the sobs she's been holding back.

"I m-m-missed you, Sunbae." Her voice breaks over the words; they wash over Yi Jeong like a cold shower. A statement that should be soothing spoken in a way that only makes him regretful.

"I missed you too," he whispers and tugs on her arm. "Come here. Come sit on my lap."

She shakes her head at first, but after a moment she relents, kicking off her shoes and curling up there, melting into him; she sobs for a while, drying her tear-streaked face on his dress shirt.

Maybe she gets makeup on it.

Maybe he doesn't care.

"You look pretty today." He touches her shirt collar when her tears finally subside.

"Oh, this...this is old," she mumbles.

"You look pretty every day." He kisses the top of her head. "Sorry for making you ride the bus yesterday. My girlfriend should never have to ride the bus." He kissed her again. "You're too pretty for that."

That makes her laugh a little, at least.

Why fate would entrust to him someone so beautiful, so delicate, so like the butterfly she wears around her neck, he has no idea.

"I'm sorry," he repeats, mostly to himself.

* * *

"It's okay," Ga Eul mumbles. She presses her nose into the shoulder of his jacket and inhales his scent as if it were oxygen. Her irritation is still there, but it's fading away second by second. He has that effect on her. "It's not really my business," she allows. "It's your family, Sunbae."

"That's not exactly true. You _are_ my girlfriend. I have this ring to prove it. Look." He nudges her, and she looks down at the silver couple ring he wears religiously. "Didn't you say it's supposed to bind our souls together for all eternity, or something like that?" He flashes her a crooked grin, and she laughs again, wholeheartedly this time. Because even though he's teasing her, she knows he values the ring for what it symbolizes, even if he doesn't believe in the cheesy romantic superstitions she goes on about sometimes.

She twists the ring around his finger.

"Only if you drive me to school every day, like you promised. Even if you don't want to talk to me. We can just ignore each other like a grumpy old couple."

He chuckles.

"Okay, I promise," he says, stroking her hair.

Sitting up straighter in his lap, Ga Eul kisses him on the cheek.

Before he can react, she asks, "Oh, by the way, how did you know I was here?"

His gaze flickers over her face, gently, before coming to rest on her eyes.

"This is the closest bus stop to your house."

"You know where the closest bus stop to my house is?"

"Well...Okay, fine." A sheepish grin. "I was on the way to your house, and I happened to see you."

"Oh. I see."

"Um." Yi Jeong checks his watch. "Do you want me to drive you to school now? You have a ten o'clock class, right?"

Ga Eul _does_ have a ten o'clock class, and she _should_ probably go, but she doesn't have any tests today. Nothing she absolutely _has_ to be there for.

And Yi Jeong's lap _is_ awfully comfortable.

And maybe it's okay to do the irresponsible thing, just this once, and skip class.

Not that she would shamelessly take advantage of Yi Jeong's contrite and affectionate mood..

Though her suggestion when she puts her mouth up to his ear would certainly say otherwise.

But given that instead of breaking up, they seem to be making up...

What else should they be doing, really?


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ga Eul is afraid of a thunderstorm...

Jun Pyo had picked a horrible week to return to New Caledonia. The weather had been nice enough when they'd arrived the day before, but early in the afternoon of their second day, storm clouds had rolled in and hadn't left. Rain now came down in sheets outside Yi Jeong's window, and every so often he saw several flashes of lightning immediately followed by a crack of thunder.

Great. The storm was right on top of them. Right on top of their floating hotel.

Yi Jeong spit out his mouthwash and slipped into his pajama shorts.

He wondered if he should go check on Ga Eul.

Of course, it was eleven at night, so she might already be sleeping.

Not that anyone could sleep comfortably with all that racket going on outside.

But maybe she was.

He hoped so.

Yi Jeong sat down on his bed and checked his phone to see if she'd tried to contact him while he'd been attending to his nightly hygiene regimen.

Nothing.

Well...that was probably good then.

Probably.

Yi Jeong checked his social media accounts. He answered a message Woo Bin had sent him an hour before. He scanned the TV for anything remotely watchable.

The storm roared on outside.

Yi Jeong clicked a button, and the TV went black. He sent the remote clattering onto the nightstand.

Maybe he could just check to see if her light was on. If it wasn't, he could safely assume she was asleep. If it was on…

He could knock on her door either way. Even if he woke her up, it would be fun to annoy her.

The wind howled, whipping against the window so hard it rattled a bit.

Right, that did it.

Tossing on a t-shirt, Yi Jeong slid his sandals on; he had just put his hand on the door handle when someone rapped on his door from the outside.

He swung the door open, and there Ga Eul stood, shivering in a set of damp pajamas that were getting wetter by the second.

"Hey! Come in, come in, don't just stand there." He took her by the elbow and tugged her inside.

"Sorry." She patted her hair as she entered the room. "I wasn't sure you were awake."

"Why didn't you call me?"

"Uh." She cracked a smile. "Oh, I didn't think about that." She looked away shyly and stepped out of her sandals.

Yi Jeong had been on three tentative dates with Ga Eul so far, and while all of those had gone well, at least as far as he could tell, they were not quite an official couple. Which was probably the result of their collective nerves and Yi Jeong's own fear of commitment.

Yet another reason why Jun Pyo had picked the worst possible time for this trip.

Not to mention Jun Pyo had forced Jan Di to share a room with him, which left Ga Eul in a room by herself.

On the one hand, it could have been the perfect opportunity for Yi Jeong to get _closer_ to Ga Eul. On the other hand, he didn't want to rush Ga Eul into anything and make her uncomfortable.

He'd already done plenty to make her uncomfortable when he was trying to deny his feelings for her.

"Um," Ga Eul spoke again, looking up at Yi Jeong, "can I ask you for a favor?"

"A favor? Sure, what?"

"Can I sleep with you?"

Now, that...was unexpected.

As if only just realizing what she'd implied, Ga Eul blushed furiously and babbled, "I-I meant...I didn't mean...what I meant was—"

"Ga Eul-yang, since when did you get to be so forward?" Yi Jeong couldn't help but smile at her embarrassment.

"That's not what I meant." She waved her arms like a petulant child.

"But that _was_ what you meant, wasn't it? You want us to sleep in the same bed." He smirked, and if her face was red before, it was on fire now.

"I didn't mean it...like _that_ ," she insisted.

A burst of thunder made her jump.

He instinctively raised his hand to calm her; he meant to grab her arm but ended up taking her hand instead.

"Why don't we move away from the door before you have a heart attack?" he quipped, taking her other hand as well and leading her into the room until he backed himself into the edge of the bed.

He sat; she remained standing with her hands clasped in his.

"What do you do when there's a thunderstorm at your house?" he inquired, secretly revelling in the smallness of her hands trapped in his.

How had her presence ever annoyed him? Was he blind?

"That's different. We're literally sitting on top of the ocean right now. And I don't trust the walls here." She nodded to the wall behind him.

"I'll note your disapproval to Jun Pyo when I bang on his door in the morning."

"Um, anyway...I don't have to stay here." She stared down at their joined hands. Her fingers twitched. "I don't mean to bother you. I just...it was scarier when I was by myself."

Yi Jeong eyed the wet tangles in her hair, hit by the sudden urge to run his fingers through all of them.

"Hmm, I see. I'll let you stay here on one condition."

"A condition?" Ga Eul asked hesitantly, popping her head up. "What's that?"

"What could it be, I wonder? Any guesses?" Yi Jeong teased.

"Sunbae...how could I possibly guess something like that?"

"I don't know, Ga Eul-yang. _You're_ the one who came to _my_ room." He winked at her.

"Well...that's..."

"Since I'm doing you a favor, don't you think it's fair if you do me a favor?"

He expected her to make some smart remark, maybe about entitled chaebols, but instead the hesitation in her face gave way to panic.

"Uh...um..." She pulled her hands away.

_Shit. Too far, too far._

"I'm kidding. I'm kidding." Yi Jeong latched onto her wrist again. He rubbed her pulse point with his thumb. "Of course you can stay here. You're not bothering me at all," he amended. "But if you could sleep on the right side of the bed, that would be great." He smiled. "I always sleep on the left side."

"Oh...Okay, sure." Ga Eul laughed, something akin to relief in her eyes.

A few minutes later, they had settled into their respective sides of the bed, Yi Jeong lying on his back and Ga Eul rolled over on her side with her back to him. The rain had subsided a bit, and the thunder sounded more distant. Still, lying in bed with this girl he'd had a crush on forever and not being able to touch her was not helping him get to sleep. In the dark, he closed his eyes and tried to picture anything other than lifting up Ga Eul's pajama shirt and kissing her stomach.

"Sunbae?" Ga Eul's small voice brought him back to his body.

His painfully unsatisfied body.

"Yes, Ga Eul-yang?"

"Can I have one more favor?"

Yi Jeong turned his head towards her as she shifted her body to face him. Lightning lit up the room for a brief second, and he could see her parted lips, her hopeful eyes.

"What is it?" he asked softly. He waited for Ga Eul to answer, but she didn't. A moment later, though, the bed shook as she moved again. Suddenly, she was beside him, moving his right arm so she could snuggle up next to him and lay her head down on his chest. Though he'd never cuddled with her before, her weight against him felt right. Familiar. Comfortable.

Like something he'd definitely miss when it was gone, even having only experienced it once.

"Um, I was cold over there," she explained. "Do you mind?"

Did he _mind_? Oh, if only she knew the things he definitely would not mind her doing to him...

This, at least, was a nice step in that direction. One he was glad she had taken since, despite his teasing, he still didn't have the balls to do anything about his actual feelings. Apparently.

Wrapping his arm around her, he hugged her to his side and rubbed down her arm in a soothing manner.

"I was cold too. So if you think about it, I guess this is a favor to both of us."

"Yes. I guess so," she answered, but her body seemed tense despite her words, despite her position next to him.

Maybe she was waiting, once again, for him to be brave as well.

"Ga Eul-yang, can I also have a favor? I promise it's something you'll like."

"Um, okay, what is it?"

"Will you be my girlfriend so that next time you can stay in my room to begin with?"


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> High school AU one-shot. Because Ga Eul is a boss and a queen, and SoEul would make such a cute high school couple. :P
> 
> Written in Jan Di's POV.

Jan Di's lunch is on the floor.

The kimbap her mother lovingly handed to her that morning as she wished her a good day is on the floor, and three girls are towering over, berating her for making such a mess even though the head girl—Ginger—knocked Jan Di's lunchbox on the floor herself.

Good day, Jan Di's foot.

She's had nothing but trouble since coming to Shinhwa. And she can't tell if everyone is out to get her because she's new or poor or because she played an active role in the school's recent media scrutiny.

Either way, Jan Di thinks that being here, even on scholarship, is a lot more trouble than the school is worth.

Today was going relatively okay until she turned a corner on her way to the cafeteria and collided with the three girls currently insulting her—her clumsiness, her hair, her _uniform_ —though it's the same uniform they're wearing. The same ridiculously expensive uniform that she has to wash every night because her parents can't afford more than one.

Part of her wants to clock Ginger in the jaw; another part of her is too tired to care.

She's picking up the ruined pieces of kimbap, trying to decide if she wants to speak up and risk being locked in the physical education storage closet again, when she hears another voice talk over Ginger, demanding to know what the three girls are doing.

From the confident tone, Jan Di assumes it must be a teacher, though she isn't sure how much help that will be—half of the teachers seem out to get her too—but when she looks up she sees another student. A long-haired girl wearing a pink headband accented with a bow. She's never talked to her, but she's seen her with one of the F4, holding hands with him in the hallways and sharing his earbuds out on the quad. She wears a uniform like everyone else, though he always wears a suit—most often a three-piece one with a matching tie and handkerchief.

It's a school legend, actually.

The quiet girl who snagged the playboy of the F4 and made him hers.

At present, the girl frowns.

Perhaps she isn't so quiet anymore.

"I asked you a question. What do you think you're doing?" she repeats.

"Ahhh, Ga Eul-sshii," Ginger purrs. "We were on our way to lunch. Are you eating with Yi Jeong Sunbae today?"

"Is that a new purse?" one of the other girls gushes. "It's so stylish. You have such amazing taste."

"Never mind that." Ga Eul's expression doesn't change. "What do you mean by messing up the hallways like this?" She scoffs. "Do you want our school to look trashy?"

"Oh, that." Ginger casts a cautious glance in Jan Di's direction. "It's this commoner's fault." She jerks a thumb in Jan Di's direction. "She was running and crashed into us. I told her to watch where she's going before _someone_ gets hurt." Ginger curls her lip and lets out a 'tch' noise.

Ga Eul appears unimpressed; then a smile spreads ever-so-slowly over her face.

"I agree. People should always watch out. You never know when you may cross the wrong person." She glances at Jan Di, and for a second Jan Di thinks she's going to start berating her along with the other three.

But then she slides her gaze back to Ginger and sends her a withering glare.

"That's why," Ga Eul continues, "if you three don't stop harassing this innocent person"—she nods toward Jan Di—"I can make it so you don't have anywhere to eat _your_ lunch."

"W-what?"

"You know what I hate most about bullies? They make everywhere they go look tacky. Honestly, would anyone think this is a high-class place with you three beating people up in the hallway? Why don't you get some manners yourself before you start scolding other people?"

"Yah!" Ginger stomps her heels and tries to lunge at Ga Eul, but the other two hold her back.

Ga Eul crosses her arms, unaffected, and the other two girls sputter apologies as they drag their friend away— _sorry, sorry_ , accompanied by bowed heads. Ginger struggles at first but eventually stalks away, leaving Ga Eul and Jan Di alone with the remnants of the kimbap on the floor.

"Thank you," Jan Di says, "You didn't have to do that though." She picks up the last little bit, feeling more awkward than ever.

"Actually, I did. Ginger and I are, like, sworn enemies," Ga Eul says, smiling prettily. "Only I'm leagues above her."

"Oh." Jan Di nods. "I see." Actually, she doesn't see. The petty feuds of the rich tend to go over her head.

"She went out with my boyfriend once," Ga Eul elaborates, as if sensing Jan Di's puzzlement, "and now she alternates between trying to be my best friend and trying to steal him away from me."

"Oh." Jan Di closes her lunchbox and shoves it back into her book bag, unsure what to do with that information. Unsure, exactly, why Ga Eul is still talking to her.

"So they say people who have common enemies should be friends," Ga Eul continues. "I'm Chu Ga Eul. And you're Geum Jan Di, correct?"

"Oh, yes." Jan Di isn't surprised the girl knows her name. Most people know Jan Di's name, if only because they hate her guts.

"You're on our swim team, right? My boyfriend sees you practicing sometimes."

Jan Di pictures Ga Eul's boyfriend in the last suit she'd seen him in; she tries to remember which member of the F4 he is.

"Your boyfriend's name is—"

"So Yi Jeong. What's the problem?" The guy in question appears from around the corner, eating an apple. Walking over to Ga Eul, he brings his free hand to rest on her waist.

"Ginger again." Ga Eul makes a face.

"Seriously? Don't tell me I missed a catfight." He looks quite put out, and Ga Eul punches him—lightly—on the arm.

" _No_. I only get into real fights. With idiot boys."

"You know that doesn't hurt, right?"

Ga Eul rolls her eyes.

"Say,"—she brightens and turns back to Jan Di—"do you want to come to the F4 lounge? We have food in there. You know, since you lost your lunch. Yi Jeong, can't she come with us?" She spins toward her boyfriend. The guy gives Jan Di a cool once-over, and for a second she is pretty sure he will dismiss the idea, and she starts to form an excuse for why she can't go anyway, but then he looks at his girlfriend's expectant face and his expression softens.

He shrugs.

"Sure," he answers.

"Come on. Let me help you up." The girl extends her hand, and Jan Di takes it, pushing herself off the ground with her other hand. Ga Eul wraps an arm around her like they've been friends since birth and guides her down the hall, then another, then another, until they reach the lounge. She talks animatedly about a new drama she's been watching—one Jan Di _has to_ , just _has to_ watch—and Yi Jeong walks behind them, scrolling through his phone. Everyone who encounters them makes way for them, like they're royalty, and it's the kind of thing Jan Di should probably resent, seeing as how she's been at the rock bottom of the high school hierarchy for the past month or so.

But then they arrive at the lounge, and Ga Eul is so surprisingly, genuinely _nice_ ; she asks Jan Di about her swimming aspirations and offers her half of her own lunch while she steals most of Yi Jeong's. The guy in question glances at Ga Eul every so often with the expression of a dog owner helplessly indulging a puppy. And Jan Di thinks it's strange how normal they seem up close. There's even a warmness to Yi Jeong that she'd never guess was there from seeing him surrounded by his entourage of other F4 members.

The three remaining members arrive while Jan Di, Ga Eul, and Yi Jeong are finishing a cheesecake dessert, and though a confused Gu Jun Pyo rambles about her presence for several minutes, Song Woo Bin and Yoon Ji Hoo don't seem to mind her breathing their air. Outnumbered, Jun Pyo eventually shuts up and starts playing a car racing game on the other side of the room.

At the end of the lunch period, Ga Eul walks with Jan Di to her next class and asks if she wants to eat in the lounge again the next day.

Jan Di suggests they eat in the cafeteria instead. Not because she wants to be seen with Ga Eul but because she feels weird invading the group's space and uncertain, still, if Ga Eul is simply being polite.

"My mother would want me to bring you some of her food," Jan Di explains. "To thank you for today."

"Oh, okay. Well, in that case, I'll get everyone else to join us. Sorry, it's just...Yi Jeong always eats with me. I used to get picked on too, so he gets worried when I'm by myself even though he acts cool like that. But don't worry. You don't have to bring food for them. Although, to be honest, Jun Pyo Sunbae might demand it. Just ignore him." Ga Eul makes an annoyed expression that says _what can you do?_

"Are you sure they'll be okay with that?" Jan Di knows the F4 never eat in the cafeteria.

"Even if they aren't, they will be." She winks. "If I convinced Yi Jeong to date me, I can convince him to do pretty much anything."

 _Maybe she can_ , Jan Di thinks. _Maybe she can_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I would update Dangerous Games between Christmas and New Years, and I really hate giving a date and then not coming through on that. But I am now realizing I have far too much happening this month for the holidays, and also I am really needing a break for my own sanity, so I am going to take that break and start fresh in the new year. It has been one crazy year for sure, and probably we are all needing a break right about now. So I am going on a little hiatus until February 2021. That includes all my works in progress (this one, Dangerous Games, and Good Girl).
> 
> This little piece (above) I had written a while back but hadn't cleaned it up and posted it, so I thought I would do that before I disappear for (another!) month or so. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's interested, I am on Instagram at jodimarie2910 . This month I will be doing a special Q & A with Yi Jeong & Ga Eul. Two questions about their relationship a day for the entire month of February. One regular question in the morning, one spicy question in the afternoon. (If anyone has questions they want answered, feel free to message me those, and I will try to include them.)
> 
> Thank you so much to all the people who commented or messaged me kind words during my break. Made me smile knowing my little stories bring joy to your day. :) I've always felt that January is the longest month. Anyone else?

Something wasn't right.

Yi Jeong had been waiting all day for Ga Eul to mention their hundred day anniversary, but she hadn't said a word, and now they were at the restaurant he'd picked out for the occasion, discussing a kid who'd gotten sick in one of her classes.

"So then I had to call his mother because the nurse said—"

"Ga Eul-yang."

"Huh?"

"Sorry, but do you know what day it is?"

"The twenty-first. Why?"

He studied her for a long moment.

No, she wasn't kidding. For her, it was just another day.

Was it possible...Had she _forgotten_?

"Ga Eul-yang...today's our hundred-day anniversary. Did you forget?"

Ga Eul looked confused for a moment; then the moment passed and she laughed, and Yi Jeong felt rather foolish.

"Well, it's not that I forgot. But I thought it wasn't for another week."

"Sorry?" Now it was Yi Jeong's turn to be confused.

"Um, when do you count from? Because I count from the first real date you took me on after you got back."

"Oh." The silly glow of realization came. " _Oh_." No wonder she hadn't said anything. It was unlike Ga Eul not to even mention something like that, romantic that she was.

He'd been counting from the first day he got back from Sweden.

After all, he had officially asked her to date him that day; it was just that between him getting settled back into his role at the museum and Jan Di and Jun Pyo celebrating their engagement, they hadn't gone on a proper date until the following week.

But, apparently, he'd gotten the date they'd been reunited stuck in his head, and that was the date he'd been mulling over for the past two weeks.

"Oh, _that's_ why you brought me a present!" Her face lit up, and she pulled the gift bag containing the box containing their engraved couple rings towards her. The dark blue, carefully nondescript bag had been sitting between them on the table and off to the side.

"No, you can't open that now." He snatched the little gift bag away. Set it on his side of the table.

"But it's still my present, isn't it?" Ga Eul pouted.

"Still, you can't open it now. That's for the anniversary. Let's just eat." He took another bite of his food, hoping she'd follow suit.

She didn't.

"You've been acting weird all night. You know?"

"Of course I was acting weird." He set his fork down. "You hadn't said a word all day about our anniversary, and here I had prepared this dinner and the present and then...Well, I can't tell you what we're doing afterward. It's a surprise."

"No, that's not it," Ga Eul said.

"What isn't?"

"There's something in that bag you don't want me to see. Now what is it?"

"Nothing," Yi Jeong responded, not even convincing himself.

"Come on, give it." Ga Eul held out her hand. "Whatever it is, the sooner you get it over with the better you'll feel."

"What if it's lingerie?" Yi Jeong lowered his voice.

Ga Eul lowered hers as well.

"If it was, you wouldn't give it to me _here_."

"Wouldn't I though?"

"If you wanted me to ever wear it in front of you, then no."

They stared at each other for several seconds.

Finally, Yi Jeong let out a sigh and passed over the bag.

Maybe she had a point. He'd suffered this long; might as well rip the band-aid off.

"Fine. You're not getting anything else next week. I mean it."

Taking the bag from him, Ga Eul shook her head.

"You're so silly, Sunbae."

He watched her hand disappear into the bag. She lifted out the tissue paper, then the little blue box. She opened it and then...nothing.

No reaction.

She didn't move, didn't say anything.

"Ga Eul-yang?...Ga Eul-yang? Are you all right? Do you like it? Say something."

She swallowed, and when she lifted her eyes up, he saw tears wetting her cheeks.

Slowly, she smiled at him.

"Thank you, Sunbae," she said softly. "This is the best present I've ever gotten." Sniffing, she wiped her cheek on her bare arm and held out the box to him. "Will you put it on me?"

"Oh, sure." He took the box from her and slipped the ring onto her index finger on the hand that had been holding the box, which happened to be her right hand. "Oh, you didn't..." He started and then stopped himself. He didn't think she'd noticed the engraving, as quickly as she'd asked him to put the ring on. But then, she'd notice it eventually. There was no need to—

"I didn't what?" she asked, looking up at him from where she'd been happily admiring the ring.

"Nothing."

She squinted at him again.

"Ah, fine...Take the ring off. There's something on the inside."

"Oh," she mumbled softly and took it off. She tilted the ring into the light, and he saw the exact moment she saw the engraving, saw the pure happiness wash over her face.

Of course, then she broke down in tears again.

A lot more tears.

"Ga Eul-yang...Agh, why do you always cry when you're happy? The waiter's going to think I'm breaking up with you."

"Shut up, Sunbae. You're the one who's making me cry, so deal with it."

"H-hey, you..." He trailed off.

His soulmate really did look beautiful, even when she cried.

Sighing, he took his own ring out of the box and put it on his ring finger.

If she was already crying now, he couldn't imagine what would happen when she saw that he'd rented out the entire botanical gardens for the evening and had it decorated with all sorts of fanciful lights.

Of course, there would be fireworks.

And, maybe, given all that, there would also be fireworks of a different kind.

Yeah.

On second thought, as long as he got to comfort her, she could cry her heart out.


	29. Chapter 29

"Number five. Share an ice cream cone," Ga Eul announced, shoving the aforementioned mint chocolate chip confection in Yi Jeong's face. "Here. Try it."

She seemed to be waiting for him to take the cone from her, or perhaps bite into it, but instead he pushed it gently back towards her.

"Actually, I don't like ice cream," he informed her, somewhat apologetically.

"What?" Ga Eul's smile dropped until it formed a perfect pout. "But it's on my list," she insisted.

"List?"

"Of things I want to do with my boyfriend."

"Oh." That explained the 'number five' bit. "Sorry." What else could he say?

Ga Eul, however, looked quite put out. She stared at her ice cream in dismay.

"How long is this list of yours?" he asked.

"Um, well, I think it's about thirty items long by now. Don't you have certain things you always wanted to do with your girlfriend?"

Sure. Not that most of those were appropriate for his current innocent girlfriend's ears.

Ga Eul took a big lick of her ice cream, and he tried not to imagine her in any crude positions.

"Here." He held out his hand. "Let's try it. Maybe you'll convert me."

"Hmm?"

"The ice cream. I'd hate for you to not achieve your goal just because your boyfriend doesn't care for frozen mush."

Ga Eul handed the cone over.

Yi Jeong steeled himself and took a tiny bite. The tiniest bite of ice cream in the history of ice-cream eating.

Yeah, that was as awful as he remembered it being.

He couldn't keep the disgust from showing on his face, and Ga Eul gave him a sympathetic look.

She took the ice cream back from him.

"Oh, sorry. I guess you really don't like it."

"How do you eat that stuff? I've got to wash my mouth out." Yi Jeong stood up. "I'm going to get a coffee."

He'd taken two steps toward the ordering counter when Ga Eul called after him, "To make it up to you, if you make a list, I'll do whatever you want from it."

He turned his head. Now that sounded interesting.

"Whatever I want?"

Ga Eul nodded, smiling sweetly.

If only she knew what she had gotten herself into.

Someone ought to tell her she should never write blank checks to former playboys.

But that someone wouldn't be him.

At least, not for now.

Yi Jeong smiled and waved at her from the line at the register.

Ah, he really was a bad guy, wasn't he?


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you wanting something from Yi Jeong's list (see Chapter 29), I will try to write that next. I have an idea. ^^
> 
> For now, please enjoy this short drabble. :)

Saturday is a lazy day.

They wake up at eleven but don't get out of bed until one. Yi Jeong makes coffee, which he takes black. Ga Eul stirs in plenty of sugar and cream. After breakfast, they shower together until the water turns cold. Then they get back into bed and don't leave until their dinner delivery arrives.

The steady rain on Yi Jeong's bedroom window assures them they have all the time in the world to watch movies with the blackout curtains drawn and the lights off. Yi Jeong fake-scolds Ga Eul for getting popcorn on the bed and she responds by pouring a few kernels onto his bare stomach and devouring them, one by one, using only her mouth.

They pause the movie. Yi Jeong takes his pajama shorts off. Ga Eul giggles as he removes her underwear and his t-shirt she'd been wearing. She tastes the salt from the popcorn in his mouth. He pulls the covers over them, and she can't really hear the rain anymore.

He says she's _so annoying_. She says he likes being annoyed.

He doesn't argue that point.

After dinner, they play a racing game Ga Eul always loses. They argue over the style of desk Yi Jeong should get for his study. Ga Eul begs him to take a relationship quiz.

The quiz says they're five percent compatible. Yi Jeong says the quiz was stupid to begin with. _No more quizzes_ , he says, so they put away their phones and cuddle instead.

The kiss atop her head convinces Ga Eul the quiz _is_ quite stupid. She's certain they're _at least_ ten percent compatible, if cuddling and coffee drinking are taken into account. She closes her eyes and feels warm all over, like she's sinking into a hot bath, the hand on her waist anchoring her down.

For so long, they knew each other only as an extension of someone else. A friend of a friend. Someone to exchange messages with and lament the unfortunate developments in their friend group.

Sometimes, Ga Eul still feels like they're side characters in Jun Pyo and Jan Di's soap opera.

Today, they pretend there is no Witch, no troublesome quarrel between their respective friends, not even unanswered messages on their phones.

Today, Ga Eul is not Jan Di's friend, and Yi Jeong is not Jun Pyo's. She isn't a part-time waitress and a full-time college student, and he isn't a world-renowned potter.

The world has stopped, for once, and in the comfort of these four walls it's easy to believe no one exists in the world but the two of them.

Just the two of them and what they are to each other.

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally published on my fanfiction.net account. Just reposting here.


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